Category: Russia

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has successfully represented Morsvyazsputnik, the only Russian supplier of INMARSAT satellite communications services, in a contractual dispute against Glonass North-West.

EPAM reports that Morsvyazsputnik developed a microprocessor-controlled device for an Industrial Internet of Things and telematics system. Following a contract with Glonass North-West, Morsvyazsputnik transferred the device to Glonass North-West, but no payment was received.

According to EPAM, the court ruled in favor of Morsvyazsputnik, ordering Glonass North-West to pay its debt. However, Glonass North-West failed to comply with the court’s ruling due to a lack of funds. Glonass North-West’s creditors have now filed a petition for compulsory liquidation.

The EPAM team was supervised by the Ivan Smirnov, the Managing Partner of the firm’s St. Petersburg Office, and included Senior Associates Evgeny Gurchenko and Artem Magunov, Associates Ays Lidzhanova and Alexander Svashenko, and Junior Associate Tebriz Tagiev.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has advised the International Investment Bank, a multilateral development bank mainly operating in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Asia, on USD 96.5 million multi-asset secured facility for financing and refinancing the acquisition of a number of passenger and special purposes aviation and mining assets for Russia’s State Transport Leasing Company. The borrowers had no external counsel.

The financing terms permit the funds to be used for the acquisition of Let L-410 Turbolet regional passenger jets, helicopters Ansats, and Mi-8s with medical modules and BELAZ mining trucks.

According to a Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner press release, ”this deal is a successful example of implementation of the state program aimed at developing regional aviation and at increasing the accessibility of medical care in remote areas of the Russian Federation. It is also an example of strategic collaboration between IIB and GTLK under the partnership agreement signed in 2016.”

The Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner team was led by Counsel Tatiana Parshak, assisted by Associates Artemiy Bondarev and Dmitry Ionov. Partner Oleg Khokhlov supervised the project. 

The Pepeliaev Group has successfully represented Mucos Pharma CZ in a USD 500,000 dispute against a Russian insurance company over a payout under an insurance agreement along with interest for the use of another party’s funds.

Mucos Pharma is a Czech pharmaceutical company that distributes enzyme therapy products in Europe and Russia/CIS.

According to the Pepeliaev Group, “over an extended period, the insurance company took no decision to make the insurance payout further to the documents submitted by Mucos Pharma … despite the fact that an insurance event had taken place and the company provided the documents as required under the insurance agreement.”

The Pepeliaev Group describes the case as “complicated,” because rulings from Russian courts ⎯ including Russia’s Supreme Court ⎯ “are usually detrimental to clients of insurance companies in cases where insurance companies are directly involved as defendants.” Nonetheless, the firm reports, “courts in all three instances confirmed that Mucos Pharma’s claims were lawful. Thus, the insurance company was forced to make the insurance payout to Mucos Pharma in full, together with interest for the use of another party’s funds.”

The Pepeliaev Group team consisted of Partner Sergey Spasennov and Associates Alexandra Antonik and Elena Rybalchenko.

The announcement that the retirement age in Russia for both men and women will increase – from 60 to 65 for men by 2028 and from 55 to 60 for women by 2028 – have led to quite an outcry, says Stefan Weber, Head of Noerr’s Moscow Office, including recent demonstrations by thousands of protesters across the country.

The draft bill, which is expected to be adopted next year, was initially introduced during the 21st FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia this past June. The timing, Weber notes, “may have been intended to minimize the negative focus and energy.” Regardless, he says, the proposed change is, in light of the age structure of the population, ultimately a necessary measure that should have an impact on the growth of the economy.

Turning from politics to a more law-related topic, Weber reports that amendments to Russia’s Administrative Offenses Code that were introduced in the middle of August include a leniency provision on self-reporting for companies with respect to anti-corruption compliance, which never existed before.

Just as the country’s antitrust law allows parties who self-report violations to avoid liability, the new Administrative Offenses Code, Weber explains, allows companies to avoid liability for bribery if they self-report to the appropriate law enforcement agency. “This basically encourages companies to report cases of bribery that they discover among their employees,” he explains.

“Russia continues to fight corruption in different ways,” he says, and notes that “there are many other examples that illustrate the ongoing efforts to improve the Russian legal and compliance environment.” In this respect he also mentions the enforcement practice of the Russian antitrust authorities, focusing to a large extent on fighting manipulations in tender procedures. According to Weber, this new focus is evidenced by the recent report of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service on its activities on anti-competitive agreements in 2017 and the first half of 2018 that was published on August 2, 2018.

In the meantime, Weber says, the situation in Russia’s legal market is somewhat stable, though he refers to possible changes to the country’s bar admission process, including the creation of special exams for qualification, which – at the moment – are not required for the majority of lawyers. Weber notes that, “if the law goes through, lawyers and large law firms, which are mostly not advocates, will have to pass an exam to become licensed advocates.”

BGP Litigation has launched an Antimonopoly law practice, which will be headed by Counsel Irina Akimova.

According to BGP Litigation, “establishment of the new department is connected with an increase in relevant business requests due to growing risks related to antimonopoly regulation, tendency for growth of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service powers, as well as significant liability for violations.”

BGP Litigation reports that the department will provide clients with legal support on all key issues of antimonopoly regulation, including the protection of interests during antitrust proceedings and transactions of economic concentration. BGP Litigation’s expertise in Antimonopoly will also assist clients with antimonopoly compliance matters and in representing client interests on issues related to unfair competition.    

“Companies develop when new products are introduced to the market,” said Dmitry Bazarov, BGP Partner. “We constantly follow customers’ needs and are always ready to change to satisfy their interests better.”

Akimova, the newly appointed Head of the Antimonopoly department, has 15 years of experience in the field. According to BGP, she is experienced “in implementing projects involving antimonopoly audits, setting up antimonopoly compliance systems, dealer and distributor relationships, anti-competition agreements, economic concentration, as well as the legislation on trade, advertising, unfair competition, procurement and state defense purchases.”

Before joining BGP, Akimova headed Antimonopoly practices at the Art De Lex Law Firm and Capital Legal Services firms. Before going into private practice, she worked for the Federal Antimonopoly Service for eight years.

DLA Piper has advised Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, on its joint venture with Rambler Group and several other investors to create Foodplex, a united digital platform for the restaurant market. The stake of Sberbank in the JV will be 35% and Rambler Group will own 30%. Another 35% will be owned by GHP Partners and investors Grigoriy Gurevich and Evgeniy Malakhov.

According to DLA Piper, “the Foodplex platform will unite in a comprehensive solution the Plazius system of digital marketing and payment, Afisha Restaurants media and reservation service, Smart Reserve system of reservation and hostess work, as well as UCS, the developer of r_keeper, the largest system of restaurant automation. The guests of a restaurant will be able to pay their bill without waiting for a waiter, divide the bill among a group of guests, and automatically receive personal privileges and option of giving non-cash tips. The service users will be able to choose a suitable restaurant, make a reservation, as well as pre-order or order food in their home or office. Restaurants will be able not only to better understand and provide services to their guests, but also increase their client base, number of orders, and the size of the average bill.”

The transaction was led for DLA Piper by Moscow-based Corporate Partner Feruz Fidaev, assisted by Senior Associate Irina Samoylova and Associates Evgenia Kudryashova and Anna Antonova.

DLA Piper did not reply to an inquiry about counsel for the Rambler Group or the other JV participants.

Russian dispute resolution lawyer Magomed Gasanov has been promoted to Partner at Alrud.

According to Alrud, Gasanov is experienced in “supporting complex court cases, including the representation of client interests in Russian state courts of all instances … and international arbitration tribunals in a wide range of economic disputes, including real estate, corporate disputes and bankruptcy proceedings. He is also experienced in advising clients on the issues of protection of real estates and anti-corruption compliance.”

According to Alrud, “Magomed actively participates in internal investigations and inspections of government bodies, and he has extensive experience in advising clients on the issues of criminal law and representation of clients at all stages of criminal proceedings on economic crimes.”

Gasanov graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University and has a Ph.D. in Law.  He joined Alrud in 2010.

“We are pleased to welcome Magomed Gasanov among the firm’s partners,” commented Alrud Senior Partner Vassily Rudomino. “Magomed has unique experience in representing clients in Russian courts of all instances, which is recognized by his colleagues, partners, and clients of the firm. For the past three years, the practice itself and the number of projects within it have increased more than two times, and the number of projects in the field of criminal law has increased considerably. Therefore, we are sure that the appointment of a new partner to the Dispute Resolution Practice will strengthen the team’s work, expand the specialization of our services and bring further success to us and our clients.” 

Capital Legal Services has advised the Siberian Concession Company on its agreement to build a bridge across the Ob River in Novosibirsk, Russia, for the Government of the Novosibirsk Region and Gazprombank.

CLS reports that “a direct agreement was signed on August 1, 2018 as a prerequisite for achieving the financial closing for construction of the fourth bridge that will be financed by Gazprombank. This will allow the concessionaire to raise debt finance.”

According to CLS, the construction of the fourth bridge is the largest public-private partnership project ever involving road construction in Siberia and is essential to the development of transport infrastructure and economy of the region.

CLS’s St. Petersburg-based team was led by Partner Pavel Karpunin and Head of PPP and Project Finance Julia Antipova.

Former Dentons Partner Mikhail Dikopolskiy has joined Capital Legal Services to head the firm’s Corporate practice in Moscow.

With 22 years of experience, Dikopolskiy specializes in Corporate and Commercial law, providing support for M&A transactions, creation of joint ventures, and business restructuring. He has over 22 years of experience.

Vladislav Zabrodin, Managing Partner at Capital Legal Services, commented that, “Mikhail joining our team is definitely an important event for both the Corporate practice and the company as such. His broad and diverse professional experience and business qualities give no grounds for doubting that the key areas for our company will continue to grow and develop successfully. And the company’s entire Moscow office will do the same.”

In addition to Dentons, Dikopolskiy has worked at both Baker & McKenzie and Allen & Overy. He studied at the Law School of the Lomonosov Moscow State University and received an LL.M. from Northwestern University in the United States.