The RULF law firm in Moscow has hired Partner Alexandr Shurygin to head the firm’s corporate and banking practices.
Alexandr Shurygin (rulf-law.com)
Shurygin is a generalist, but specializes primarily in handling Banking/Finance and M&A, as well as “transactions related to real estate, bankruptcy proceedings, and proceedings in international arbitration.”
Shurygin worked with Allen & Overy in Moscow from 2007 to 2014, and before that was with Norton Rose.
In mid-July it was reported that Partner Perry Zizzi would be leaving Badea Clifford Chance in Bucharest to return to Dentons, where he had worked (under the Salans brand) before leaving 7 years before. On August 4 the news broke that long-time Ukrainian expert Adam Mycyk had joined Dentons as well. Mycyk moved over from Chadbourne & Parke, as that firm winds down its operations in Kiev. We reached out to Zizzi and Mycyk to ask them about their decisions to join Dentons.
Partners Adam Mycyk and Perry Zizzi
CEELM: Why Dentons?
P.Z.: It was interesting to observe the evolution of the firm over 7 years from the outside and I was impressed with its flexibility and capacity to adapt rapidly to the realities of post-recession business. The firm has a highly developed entrepreneurial spirit yet it encourages cohesive practice groups and cooperation among offices and regions. I would go so far as to say that Dentons real estate practice in Europe works so well that it has become a model that other firms have tried to emulate. Additionally, Dentons’ polycentric character means that we don’t simply have a large headquarters that develops approaches to legal issues and creates templates in a top-down manner. Rather, each attorney – no matter in which office he or she is based – is given the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way. Last but not least, it has been a smooth transition process to rejoining a place where I knew many people with whom I had worked very well.
A.M.: Believe it or not, in the 20 years that I’ve been in Ukraine, I’ve had two other missed opportunities to join Dentons in Kiev (actually, the former Salans office). I first interviewed with Salans in 1995, but for reasons I now forget I decided to join Altheimer & Grey instead. The second opportunity arose when Altheimer announced its dissolution back in 2003 and all of Altheimer’s international offices in the region decided to join Salans with the exception of Kiev and Warsaw, which teamed up with Chadbourne & Parke. As they say, the third time’s the charm! That – and of course the global reach of the firm, its long-term presence and commitment to Ukraine and the region and its fantastic visionary leadership – were the top selling points for me.
CEELM: What are your thoughts on prospects for business and investment in Romania and Ukraine at the moment, and in the near future?
P.Z.: Romania has tremendous capacity to generate economic growth. JP Morgan has recently included Romanian sovereign bonds in its global index of recommended emerging markets, and I trust this will send a positive signal to investors. There are opportunities in the financial sector, given the appetite of both large and medium banks for acquisition of both shares or assets portfolios. Private equity funds have started to eye Romania again, many of them with significant cash to invest. After a long period of downturn and then stagnation, the real estate market is recovering, although we might not necessarily witness a bubble due to the continuing difficult in procuring debt financing.
A.M.: Although it’s no secret that Ukraine has been under tremendous stress for the last 8 months, I have always been – and will remain – a Ukraine optimist. This is a large market in the geographical center of Europe that everyone recognizes as having tremendous potential – and not only in areas such as agriculture, but also in energy, TMT and infrastructure, just to name a few. Unfortunately over the years, due to high levels of corruption, slow-paced reforms, and a variety of other systemic problems, the level of foreign investment has remained below that of neighboring countries, with the market experiencing very good “highs” and very bad “lows.” I feel confident that when the current difficulties stabilize, given Ukraine’s clear European aspirations (the fight for which has, unfortunately, resulted in many lost lives) and the support of Western governments, levels of investment will begin to increase. This will be gradual at first and will need to be accompanied with a number of reforms to further improve the business and investment climates, but in two to three years’ time I am certain that we will see a very busy legal services market in Ukraine.
CEELM: Is your role any different at Dentons than it was at your previous firm (Badea Clifford Chance for Perry, and Chadbourne for Adam)?
P.Z.: As head of the Bucharest office banking and finance practice, my priority at Dentons is to strengthen that particular practice. Of course, I will also be a key part of the real estate team, as I was during my previous stint here. Regionally, I expect that I will advise on matters in a broader geographical area.
A.M.: My role here will not be that much different than at Chadbourne. I have joined the firm as part of our Corporate group in Kyiv but I will continue to work on a variety of transactions, advising both Ukrainian companies and foreign investors, banks and financial institutions. Together with the team here, we have a shared vision for the development of the Ukraine practice and I plan on playing an integral role in achieving our common goals and increasing our market share.
CEELM: Obviously Perry knew many of the lawyers at Dentons well, having worked with many of them back when the firm operated under the Salans brand. But Adam, did you know members of the Dentons office personally before beginning talks about possibly joining them?
A.M.: Yes, as a matter of fact I did. I worked with two of the partners – Myron Rabij and Markian Silecky – at my first job in Kyiv over 20 years ago, and Natalia Selyakova was a client of ours years ago at Chadbourne before she joined Salans from one of the multinational banks in town. It’s wonderful to be welcomed into an environment of strong and capable professionals who just also happen to be very nice people, which makes the transition that much easier.
CEELM: Adam, did you bring any members of your team with you from Chadbourne?
A.M.: At this point in time I have made this transition alone – but it’s a small world and I hope that I have an opportunity to work with each of my talented former colleagues at some point again in the future! I am lucky to have worked with so many talented Ukrainian lawyers over the years, many of whom are now highly regarded professionals on the market.
CMS Cameron McKenna has advised OTP Bank Romania, a member of the OTP Group, on the signing of an acquisition agreement for the purchase of 100% of Millennium Bank Romania, a member of Banco Comercial Portugues. The purchase price was EUR 39 million.
According to an OTP statement, Millennium Bank, with total assets of RON 2.83 billion (approximately EUR 635 million) as of December 31, 2013, is the 22nd largest bank on the Romanian market, with a 0.8% market share. Millennium Bank has nearly 80 thousand clients, with a branch network of 56 units and 58 ATMs. As a result of the acquisition the market share of OTP Bank Romania will rise to 2.1% and it will become the 11th largest Romanian bank, with almost 400,000 clients, almost 150 branches, and over 160 ATMs. The integration process is expected to be executed within 1 year.
The CMS team was led by London-based Partner Eva Talmacsi with the support of Bucharest-based Partner Horea Popescu. The team also included CMS lawyers Szilvia Kabacs, Raluca Ionescu, Mircea Moraru, Cristina Reichmann, Valentina Parvu, Nona Cernov, Anna Burchner, Arpad Lantos, and Ivan Sefer.
Chadbourne & Parke has announced it is in the process of closing its Kiev office and withdrawing from the market.
Contacted for comment, Jaroslawa Johnson, Chadbourne & Parke’s Managing Partner in Kiev, confirmed the news. Johnson explained that foreign investors are understandably hesitant about entering the country in the middle of its ongoing conflict with Russia and internal restructuring following last winter’s convulsive “Euromaidan” revolution, and thus, while 2013 ended up being a strong year for the office, the ongoing uncertainty and threats of violent conflict made continued operations became impractical. “We depend on foreign investors,” Johnson said, “and there won’t be any for a while.”
According to an official Chadbourne statement: “We made the determination to close the Kiev office several months ago and communicated with the team there at that time. There is no official date of closure at this time, and the office has remained open while we have unwound our business there. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian economy has struggled over a number of years, leading to a severe drop-off in outside investment. The recent turmoil and economic climate have only made the situation worse. In view of the currently difficult legal marketplace and the problematic long term outlook, it was not practicable for us to continue our operations in Kiev. We appreciate the excellent service to the firm and to our clients provided by the lawyers and staff of the Kiev office over the years. We certainly wish them all the best and hope that the current turmoil ends peacefully for everyone involved.”
The office is winding down current client matters — no new matters have been accepted for several months — and most lawyers have already moved on, including several associates to CMS Cameron McKenna, and International Partner Adam Mycyk to Dentons. Johnson herself will return to the United States when the office finally shuts down — an event Johnson predicts will happen by October 1st at the very latest.
DLA Piper has confirmed its role in the acquisition by Pfizer of the commercial division of vaccines from Baxter.
Pfizer acquired a portfolio of two vaccines and the corresponding Austrian production facilities in Orth an der Donau. The two vaccines can protect against certain forms of meningitis, partially transmitted through tick bites. Following the completion of the transaction Pfizer will have its own production site in Austria.
The DLA Piper team advising Pfizer in Austria consisted of Partner Christoph Mager, the Head of Corporate for DLA Piper in Austria, and Senior Lead Lawyer Elisabeth Stichmann.
Internationally Pfizer was represented by the US law firm Kirkland & Ellis, while Baxter was advised by Shiva Austin internationally, and by Wolf Theiss in Austria. Tax advice was provided by Deloitte for Pfizer and PwC for Baxter.
The KLC Law Firm in Greece has announced that three of its Senior Associates were promoted to Partner on July 14, 2014.
The new Partners are Xenofon Papayiannis, Alexandros Tsirigos, and Theodore Loukopoulos.
Tax expert Papayiannis joined KLC from Ernst and Young as a Senior Associate in 2006. In addition to his tax expertise, he advises on complex transactions and M&As. Tsigiros and Loukopoulos both joined the firm as trainees in 2001 and have been there since. Tsigiros focuses on M&As, Privatizations, and International Arbitration, particularly in the energy, construction, and financial services sectors. Loukopoulos works primarily in the pharmaceutical sector, where he advises Greek and multinational pharmaceutical companies on M&As, patent litigations, and matters related to the marketing of pharmaceutical products.
imagecredits: klclawfirm.com
White & Case has advised Play Topco, the indirect shareholder of Polish mobile telecoms operator P4 Sp. Z o.o., on its EUR 415 million senior PIK toggle notes offering.
P4 Sp. Z o.o., which trades as Play, is a portfolio company co-owned by Olympia Development and the London-based investment firm Novator. The proceeds of the transaction have been distributed to shareholders.
“We are pleased to have advised Play Topco S.A. on this important and strategic transaction,” said White & Case Partner Ian Bagshaw. “As the appetite for good credits in Europe’s bond markets remains high the successful completion of this transaction demonstrates that PIK toggle bonds remain a viable option for capital raising.”
The cross-border team from White & Case advising Play Topco was led by Partners Jill Concannon, Rob Mathews, and Ian Bagshaw in London, assisted by Warsaw-based Partner Marcin Studniarek and Local Partner Daniel Kaczorowski, London-based Associates Nicole Vella, James Greene, Nicola Sole, Robert Hutton, and Nilima Shah, and Warsaw-based Associates Rafal Kaminski, Marta Osowska, and Magdalena Zmyslowska.
This is the second transaction on which White & Case has supported Play and its affiliates this year, as it advised on the organization’s inaugural EUR 870 million and PLN 130 million dual-tranche high yield bond issue and entry into a new super senior revolving credit facility in February.
Dentons has advised TEP (Renewables Holding) Limited, a subsidiary of the Irish company Trading Emissions, in connection with a sale of shares in EWG Slupsk, which plans to develop the Potegowo wind farm in northern Poland.
The project is currently the largest wind farm project in Poland to enter the construction phase. The shares were purchased by Winergy Last Mile, a Cyprus-based company. The purchaser and seller signed the contract on July 7, 2014.
The transaction involves the sale of a 64 percent stake and repayment of loans incurred by EWG Slupsk to TEP (Renewables Holding) Limited.
According to Dentons, the Potegowo wind farm will feature 98 turbines with total capacity of 253.5 MW, complete with auxiliary infrastructure. The company has already signed a power grid interconnection agreement, land leases and secured all construction, environmental and other permits needed to commence construction works.
The project was coordinated by Dentons Counsel Tomasz Janas, Senior Associate Jakub Wieczorek, and Associate Malgorzata Bluszcz.
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The Grata law firm has announced that Andrey Soukhomlinov will become their new Managing Partner and Head of the firm’s Moscow office.
Soukhomlinov (foto) focuses on real estate and construction and has over 18 years of experience legal advising for foreign and Russian clients. Soukhomlinov joins Grata from K&L Gates. He has also been partner with legacy Salans and Baker & McKenzie in Moscow.
Grata has multiple offices in Kazakhstan, as well as in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Its Moscow office opened in 2013.
imagecredits: themoscowtimes.com
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Dentons has advised Hines Poland Sustainable Income Fund on the acquisition of the Ambassador office building in Warsaw from Kronos Real Estate. The acquisition is HPSIF’s first.
According to Dentons, the class A 11-floor building is “located in the rapidly developing business district of Mokotow, was constructed in March 2013, and was the first completed investment of Kronos in Poland.” The firm also reported that the building has 14,900 square meters of office space and 1,000 square meters of retail space. It is currently undergoing BREEAM assessment.
Hines Poland will act as asset and property manager of the building and connected properties.
The Dentons team was led by Partner Pawel Debowski, assisted by Senior Associate Bartlomiej Kordeczka and Associate Martyna Racz-Suchocka.