Category: Russia

Akin Gump has advised PJSC Lukoil on its USD 800 million acquisition of a 25% interest in the Marine XII License in the Republic of Congo from New Age M12 Holdings Limited. Clyde & Co advised New Age M12 Holdings on the transaction, which was signed on June 6, 2019, and is subject to several conditions, including the approval by the government of the Republic of Congo.

The Marine XII License is located offshore of the Republic of Congo and covers five discovered fields containing reserves equaling 1.3 billion barrels of oil. The license is based on a production sharing contract, with Eni as the project’s operator. 

The Akin Gump team advising Lukoil was led by Moscow Partner Natalia Baratiants and London Partner Julian Nichol and included Moscow Senior Counsel Alexander Trukhtanov.

The Clyde & Co team included Partners Michael Wachtel and Philip Mace, Legal Director Andrew Chadwick, Senior Associate David Anthony, Associate Julia Vaynzof,  and Junior Associate Bella Hanif. 

Vinson & Elkins has confirmed that, following the retirement of Managing Partner Natalya Morozova, the firm closed its Moscow office at the beginning of 2019.

Morozova joined Vinson & Elkins in 1991 — the same year the firm opened its Moscow office — and became Partner in 2000. She was Co-Administrative and Managing Partner of the Moscow office from 2004 until her retirement at the beginning of this year.

The firm responded to an inquiry by noting that “we continue to have a strong Russia and Central Asia practice with lawyers in our London, Middle East and other offices. 

Semenov & Pevzner has opened an office in Saint Petersburg, headed by Managing Partner Ekaterina Smirnova.

Smirnova specializes in intellectual property and information technology. Before joining Semenov & Pevzner, she worked Head of Intellectual Property / Information Technologies at Kachkin & Partners and at KIT Finance Investment Bank. She obtained her law degree from the Saint Petersburg State University in 2012 and obtained an LLM from the University of Melbourne in Australia in 2015.

“By joining together our years of experience in the provision of legal services, we will expand our areas of expertise, in particular by adding new domains such as franchising, IT, competition regulation in the realm of intellectual property, and defamation protection,” Smirnova commented. “Saint Petersburg is one of Russia’s largest cities, worthy of the title of the capital of IT and culture, as well as that of the judicial center in the near future. All of this offers exciting prospects for productive and fulfilling work.” 

White & Case has advised Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works on the offering of USD 500 million 4.375% notes due 2024. Freshfields reportedly advised joint lead managers Citi, J.P. Morgan, and Societe Generale on the deal.

The notes were listed on the regulated market of Euronext Dublin. 

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is a global steel producer and a metal company in Russia. According to White & Case, the transaction represents MMK’s return to the international markets after more than 15 years. The issue was more than 4.5 times oversubscribed, with the total order book exceeding USD 2.2 billion at peak.

The White & Case team was led by Moscow & London-based Partner Darina Lozovsky and London-based Partner Stuart Matty and included Moscow-based Local Partner Dmitry Lapshin and Associates Renat Akhmetzyanov, Yulia Akulinina, and Anastasia Sheyndlina, as well as London-based Counsel Doron Loewinger.

Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners has successfully represented the interests of the Orion Corporation, a Finnish pharmaceutical company, before the Cassation Appeal instance court in a patent dispute.

Orion Corporation went to court to demand that a Russian manufacturer marketing generic drugs which infringed on Orion’s patent for the “Pharmaceutical solutions of Levosimendan” — which Orion uses to prepare heart failure drug Simdaks — discontinue its production.

Both the court of first instance and the Appellate Court found against the Orion Corporation and refused to grant its demand. At the stage of cassation appeal, however, the decisions of the lower courts were voided and the intellectual property department sent the case for a retrial at the first instance.

The EPAM team included Partners Valery Eremenko and Dmitry Dyakin, Counsels Vera Richterman and Pavel Sadovsky, Lawyer Maxim Burda, and Junior Lawyer Vladimir Rodionov.

CMS Russia has advised global travel retailer Dufry on its agreement, made through its Russian joint venture, to acquire a 60% stake in RegStaer-M LLC, a Russian duty-free and duty-paid operator, from RegStaer Group. O2 Consulting advised the sellers on the deal.

Dufry is a global travel retailer operating over 2,300 duty-free and duty-paid shops in airports, cruise lines, seaports, railway stations, and downtown tourist areas. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the company operates in 64 countries in all six continents. According to CMS, this “landmark transaction for the sector in Russia and the rest of the CIS” will allow the company to increase its presence at the airports of the Moscow air hub, as it is already present at Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo. 

Founded in 1998, RegStaer Group is headquartered in Moscow. The company owns and operates duty-free shops at the Sheremetyevo airport, Vnukovo airport, as well as at Rostov-on-Don and Mineralnye Vody airports. RegStaer also owns and operates four Stefano Ricci boutiques in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The CMS team was led by Partners Vladimir Zenin and Hayk Safaryan, supported by Counsel Gregor Kennedy and Associates Mikhail Panferov, Elizaveta Rakova, and Nikolai Molostov.

The O2 team was led by Managing Partner Olga Sorokina and Partner Karen Shakhnazarov and included Partner Inna Perelekhova and Associates Yury Ustinov, Anna Chykhanatskikh, Georgiy Murzakaev, and Ksenia Kedrovskaya.

Clifford Chance has advised Baikal Mining Company on the execution of a EUR 250 million equipment supply agreement with Outotec Oyj for the design and supply of the mine-side processing equipment for the Udokan project in the Russian Far East.

The Udokan copper deposit is the largest in Russia and the third largest in the world, with resources of more than 26 million tons of copper. According to Clifford Chance, the new metallurgical plant will have an annual processing capacity of 12 million tons of ore, producing 130,000 tons of copper as high-grade sulfide concentrate and cathodes. The project will result in the creation of 2,400 direct jobs and up to 20,000 jobs in related industries.

Outotec Oyj is a Finland-listed technology company that sells mining technology and plant projects that it first designs and then executes itself or in collaboration with its partners.

Clifford Chance’s cross-border team was led by London-based Partner Sandy Hall and Moscow-based Counsel Ella Omelchenko, supported by a London team consisting of Senior Associates Irina Steinberg and Chris Starkey and Associate Tom Ward, and a Moscow team of Partner Timur Aitkulov, Senior Associates Dmitry Malukevich and Dmitrii Tolkachev, and Associates Nikolay Nesterov and Victor Parkhomenko.

The Moscow and London offices of Baker Botts have advised PAO Novatek on the sale of a 10% participation interest in the Arctic LNG 2 project to each of China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China National Petroleum Corporation. Herbert Smith Freehills advised China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation on its investment. Pinsent Masons and Infralex reportedly represented CNOOC on the deal.

The Agreements will close in the near future and are subject to approval by regulatory authorities of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China. 

According to Herbert Smith Freehills, the project will be Novatek’s second liquid natural gas production facility in the Arctic after the Yamal LNG plant, in which CNPC currently holds a 20% shareholder interest. 

The Arctic LNG 2 project envisages constructing three LNG trains, each with a capacity of approximately 6.6 million tons per year, using gravity-based structure platforms. The project is based on the hydrocarbon resources of the Utrenneye field. Production is expected to begin between 2022 and 2023.  

Novatek is an independent natural gas producer in Russia. The company is principally engaged in the exploration, production, processing, and marketing of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons and have more than 20 years of operational experience in the Russian oil and natural gas sector. 

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation is a producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas in China and is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company. The CNOOC mainly engages in exploration, development, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas. Its core operation areas are Bohai, Western South China Sea, Eastern South China Sea, and the East China Sea in offshore China. Overseas, the Group has oil and gas assets in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania, and Europe.

The China National Petroleum Corporation is an integrated international energy company. Based in China, CNPC has oil and gas assets and interests in more than 30 countries in Africa, Central Asia-Russia, America, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and other regions. CNPC is an oil and gas producer and supplier, as well as a global oilfield service provider and a reputed contractor in engineering construction, with businesses covering petroleum exploration and production, natural gas and pipelines, refining and marketing, oilfield services, engineering construction, petroleum equipment manufacturing, and new energy development, as well as capital management, finance, and insurance services.

The Baker Botts team included Special Counsel Konstantin Litvinenko and Associates Natalia Mikheeva and Nikolai Gryzunov in the Moscow office, and Partner Mark Rowley, Senior Associate Matt Lewy, and Associate Alex Kerrof in the London office.

The Herbert Smith Freehills was led by Hong Kong-based Partners Danila Logofet and Hilary Lau and Beijing-based Partner Monica Sun. The team in Moscow included Counsel Evgeny Yuriev, Senior Associates Angelina Leushkina, Sergey Kolobov, Sergei Eremin, and Oxana Koerner, and Associates Elvira Vanieva, Alexander Chuprunov, and Yulia Turkina. The Beijing team included Partner Calvin Ho, Senior Associates James Zhang and Jie Li, and Associates Yunfei Guo and Qiujie Tan. In Hong Kong the team consisted of Senior Associate Yida Xu and Associates Emilie Soust and Charles Wong.

Eversheds Sutherland has merged with Russian law firm Tilling Peters, adding nine lawyers, including partners Oxana Peters and Ekaterina Tilling, to its team.

Tilling Peters, which was created by the spring 2015 merger of the Tilling and Peters & Partners law firms (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on May 7, 2015), specialized primarily in dispute resolution and intellectual property. Eversheds Sutherland has been in Russia since the summer of 2017 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 12, 2017).

Ekaterina Tilling, who was a partner in international law firms before starting her own firm, specializes in intellectual property. With over fifteen years of experience in this field, she advises clients and represents them in court and is certified as a Mediator of International and Community Conflicts by the Conflict Resolution, Research and Resource Institute, Inc. She serves as an arbitrator at the Russian Arbitration Centre of the Institute of Modern Arbitration.

Oxana Peters specializes in litigation and arbitration. Peters, who like Tilling, also worked in international law firms as a partner before starting her own firm, focuses on dispute resolution in relation to commercial and tax disputes. Her practice also includes representing clients in international commercial arbitrations (LCIA, ICC, SCC, etc.), as well as supporting clients in Russian courts to obtain recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and foreign judgements. She is an arbitrator at the RAA and has also frequently served as an expert in international disputes.

In a joint statement, Ekaterina Tilling and Oxana Peters commented on the merger: “We are pleased that our professional paths will continue as a part of Eversheds Sutherland. Receiving an invitation to join such a large-scale and professional team is confirmation of the high quality of the common work we have delivered. We will continue to move in this direction and to strengthen our position on the market. We are certain that we will achieve many new victories together.”

“I am delighted to welcome Tilling Peters’ team to our family,” stated Eversheds Sutherland Russia Managing Partner Victoria Goldman. “We are working to expand our practice groups and to strengthen of our position on the Russian market, and this collaboration is another step in our firm’s growth strategy. It is crucially important to provide our clients with the highest possible quality of legal support, including in relation to IP issues, which are becoming ever more relevant, and dispute resolution, which has always been relevant. I am confident that our clients will notice the superior services that will result from our new synergistic partnership.”

Ian Gray, Executive Chair, Europe at Eversheds Sutherland, added: “Our full-service practice in Russia continues to grow rapidly since we launched in September 2017, and we welcome the significant skills and experience of Oxana and Ekaterina to our team. The merger with the team at Tilling Peters fully supports our global strategy and will provide a superb resource to our clients for their intellectual property and dispute resolution matters.”

Akin Gump has advised Russian Internet and IT company Mail.ru on the formation of a joint venture with the Alibaba Group, a global digital commerce company, PJSC MegaFon, a pan-Russian operator of digital opportunities, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund. Cleary advised MegaFon on the deal, while Linklaters advised the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Debevoise advised Alibaba.

The joint venture has received approval from the Federal Antimonopoly Service in Russia.

Akin Gump’s team in London included Partners Artem Faekov and David Sewell and Associate Harpreet Hundal, while its team in Moscow included Partner Vladimir Kouznetsov and Counsel Anna Semashko.

Cleary’s team in Moscow included Partners Yulia Solomakhina and Murat Akuyev, Associate Ilya Nekrasov and Paralegal Taisiya Kogalenko. Its team in London included Partner Richard Sultman and Associates Bridget English and Edward Hicks.

The Linklaters team included Partner Grigory Gadzhiev, Managing Associate Ivan Chuprunov, and Associates Leonid Lepold and Anna Tiunova.

The Debevoise team included Hong-Kong-based Partner Edwin Northover, Associates Wen-Wen Lai, Monisha D’souza, and Christian Richter, and Legal Consultant Yue Yang, Moscow-based Counsel Anna Maximenko and Associates Nikolay Kiselev, Elena Klutchareva and Mikhail Movshovich, Washington-based Partner Satish Kini and Associate Robert Dure, and London-based Partner James Scoville and Associate Heather Atkins.