Category: Russia

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has advised FAM AB, Sweden holding company, on its USD 580 million plus acquisition of business subdivision of Sandvik Process Systems. Nordic law firm Roschier acted as global counsel for Sandvik.

According to EPAM, the deal helped FAM to enter the new market of production equipment in 16 jurisdictions (including Sweden, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom) at a single stroke, and gave Sandvik Process Systems new opportunities for innovation, growth, and profitability. 

FAM AB is a Swedish asset management company with shares in machinery, timber, energy, and industrial companies in Europe.

Sandvik Process Systems delivers industrial process solutions for various industries.

The EPAM team included Head of St. Petersburg M&A and Corporate Practice Elena Agaeva, Counsels Olga Mischenko and Sergey Kalinin, Senior Associates Evgeniya Evdokimova and Alexey Karchemov, Associates Yuri Nefedov and Olga Tyangaeva, and Junior Associate Vladislav Chukanov.

DLA Piper has advised Doc+, a Russian digital e-health startup, on a USD 9 million financing from Vostok New Ventures.

Vostok New Ventures is a Swedish venture capital firm, specializing in growth capital and buyout investments, and its existing investors include private equity fund Baring Vostok and Internet company Yandex.

According to DLA Piper, this was the startup’s third investment round, having raised USD 5.5 million and USD 5 million in the previous two rounds from Baring Vostok and Yandex in July 2016 and June 2017 respectively.

Doc+ has also partnered with Yandex.Health, an online medical consultation service.

DLA Piper reports that the new capital injection will be used to develop the application further, explore new trends in digital health services, and advance custom solutions provided by artificial intelligence.

The DLA Piper team consisted of Partner Leo Batalov, assisted by Senior Associate Andrei Sheetkin.

DLA Piper has advised Baring Vostok, a private equity fund investing in Russia/CIS, on its acquisition of a minority stake in Itransition, a Belarusian software solutions developer and IT services provider. The seller, Firestrong Ltd., was represented by Baker Botts.

According to DLA Piper, ”the partnership’s main focus will be on strengthening Itransition’s foothold in its key markets of the European Union and the United States. Founded 20 years ago, Itransition has become one of the leading Belarusian software developers, with offices located in Belarus, Russia, the UK, and the US. The company employs around 2,000 staff.”

DLA Piper’s team was led by Moscow-based Partner Leo Batalov, supported by Senior Associate Andrei Sheetkin. The UK team was led by Partner Jon Kenworthy, alongside Associate Dylan Kennett. The Amsterdam team was led by Partner Casper Hamersma, supported by Associate Diederik Schuurmans and Associate Anton Ziajka from the US.

Baker Botts’s Moscow-based team included Partner Maxim Levinson and Senior Associate Dmitry Kolomeets. The London team was led by Partner Derek Jones, and the Washington D.C. team was led by Partner Don Lonczak. 

DLA Piper has advised Sberbank on the sale of a 19.99% stake in Verkhnekamsk Potash Company, the operator of the Talitsky Potash Project, to Acron Group, with a simultaneous sale of the same stake back to Sberbank Investments, as VPC equity financing investor.

Acron Group, a vertically integrated mineral fertilizer producer in Russia, obtained a license in 2008 to develop the Talitsky area of the Verkhnekamsk potassium-magnesium salt deposit. While the construction ramps up and shaft sinking commences at the Talitsky project, Acron continues to structure the financing of the project.

The DLA Piper was led by Partner Leo Batalov, assisted by Senior Associate Georgy Vinogradov.

DLA Piper has advised Transmashholding, Russia’s largest manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment, on its joint venture with Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi to produce traction inverters for passenger trains in Russia.

According to DLA Piper, “per conditions of the agreement, the JV will use the manufacturing capacities of Metrowagonmash, a subsidiary of Transmashholding, to manufacture high-performance traction inverters in Russia. Transmashholding will own 51% of the JV authorized capital of RUB 375 million, Hitachi will own 49%. The JV will have an annual production capacity of 200 traction systems. It will carry out the design as well as manufacturing, assembly, testing, sale, repair and maintenance service of the products. This will make high-performance, high-quality traction inverters available throughout the Russian market, as well as the CIS and European markets.”

DLA Piper’s team was led by Moscow-based Corporate Partner Steffen Kaufmann, assisted by Legal Director Mukhamed Evloev.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has advised Solntse Mexico and Mission Foods Stupino, the Russian divisions of the Gruma Group, on their restructuring and on obtaining special economic zone resident status with the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and other governmental bodies in connection with its investment in a factory in Moscow Region.

The Gruma Group, a global corporation headquartered in Mexico, has been operating in Russia since 1996 and manufactures Mexican food products. In the fall of 2017, the company launched a factory in the Greater Moscow area, the corporation’s 75th plant.

Earlier this month EPAM reported that it had successfully represented Solntse Mexico in a dispute before the Moscow District Commercial Court with a Russian grid company over payment for electricity consumption outside the scope of a contract (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 7, 2018).

The EPAM team included Head of the St. Petersburg M&A and Corporate Practice Elena Agaeva, Counsel Olga Mischenko, Senior Associates Evgeniya Evdokimova, Olga Morozova, Daria Sergeeva, and Sergey Ustalov, Associates Elena Kvartnikova, Yuri Nefedov, Anton Kleshchenko, Olga Tyangaeva, and Maria Demina, and Junior Associate Vladislav Chukanov.

Partner Roman Serb-Serbin has left Danilov & Partners to join what the firm only describes as “a major Russian investment company.”

“I am grateful to Roman for his input in the development of the firm,” said Danilov & Partners Managing Partner Andrei Danilov, in a press release on the firm website. “During the past year and a half he created a successful dispute resolution team to support our main area of practice – corporate and M&A. His new position as an in-house lawyer will open new opportunities for working together.”

“I am glad that after my departure I leave a strong litigation team in the firm able to assist with corporate conflicts, bankruptcies and commercial disputes,” commented Serb-Serbin in that same press release. “I am sure that my cooperation with Danilov & Partners will continue and my new role will kick start new interesting projects.” 

Serb-Serbin graduated from the Kutafin Moscow State Law University in 2006 and began working at Muranov, Chernyakov & Partners in the spring of 2007. Two years later he joined the Pepeliaev Group, where he stayed until September 2013, when he became a Partner at Schekin & Partners. In December 2016 he moved to Danilov & Partners.

Moscow’s Alliance Legal law firm has successfully represented the interests of Mikhail Kiyko, Director General of the United Grain Company, in a claim before the Moscow Region’s Khimki City Court, which ruled that an article appearing in The Moscow Post entitled “The General Millionaire Tries to Get to Zolotov’s Deputy” was untrue.

According to Alliance Legal, “almost all experts in the field of PR and Internet are confident that the fight against negative PR, which is conducted against politicians or businessmen through so-called ‘drain tanks’ in the network, is very difficult. The problem is that, unlike the media community, resources that help to drain negatives and revelations belong to the ‘gray’ Internet zone: they are usually registered on the frontmen or companies, and are not official media. This is what makes it possible for an attacker to anonymously post deliberately false and insulting information against well-known businessmen, politicians, statesmen.”

“Such registered publications have nothing common with freedom of speech,” insisted Alliance Legal lawyer Artem Grishin. “They discredit the profession of a journalist, they pursue only mercantile interests aimed at causing reputational harm.”  

Alliance Legal reports that “this was not the first trial which culminated in satisfying the claims of Mr. Kiyko and the corporation he leaded. In December 2017, the Moscow Arbitration Court found the publication untrue, damaging the honor, dignity and business reputation Mr. Kiyko’s and JSC United Grain Company reputation, posted on the Internet resource Russian Criminal under the title ‘Caspian Aargo of Magomedovs.’ Then, in July of this year, the Arbitration Court of Moscow satisfied a lawsuit against several Internet publications (Glavk.info, Kompromat1) that spread a knowingly false and undermining reputation of the plaintiff’s publication entitled ‘The Corruptor in the Shoulder Straps of Mikhail Kiyko Helps the Oligarch Magomedov Get Rich on Smuggling.”

“In the production of arbitration courts, there are several other similar cases to protect Mr. Kiyko’s honor, dignity, and business reputation including the corporation he leads,” said Artem Grishin.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has advised Rusklimat Group, a Russian manufacturer and importer of climate control equipment, on the restructuring of its business units and divisions.

Rusklimat Group has been active on the markets of Russia, other CIS countries, and the Baltic States since 1996. While over 30% of its products are manufactured at Rusklimat plants in Russia, the group also has manufacturing facilities in Italy and South-East Asia. Rusklimat produces over 15 million equipment units annually and its regional offices span 105 cities in 81 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

According to Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, ”this restructuring program is designed to optimize the distribution network structure and raise the group’s attractiveness to investors.”

The Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner team was led by Partner Anton Panchenkov and included Partner Evgeny Timofeev, Associate Director Anna Zvereva, Senior Associates Alla Zverkova and Kseniya Shevchenko, and Counsel Alexander Kirilchenko.

The Pepeliaev Group is providing legal services to the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME) and a number of Chinese producers and exporters of aluminum alloy wheels within the framework of an anti-dumping investigation. The project is being implemented in cooperation with Beijing’s Zhong Lun Law Firm.

According to the Pepeliaev Group, “the investigation is being carried out by the Eurasian Economic Commission with respect to specific goods produced in China and imported into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union. The project includes the following tasks: 

1. Ensuring registration as a participant in the anti-dumping investigation, including confirmation of the powers of the association to act on behalf of several of its members as a participant in the anti-dumping investigation
2. Obtaining access to the materials of the investigation
3. Preparing an application to select foreign producers and/or exporters for the purpose of determining an individual dumping margin 
4. Providing information relating to the specified anti-dumping investigation with respect to the damage stated in the petition of the person who initiated the investigation (confidential and non-confidential versions)
5. Preparing/checking answers to anti-dumping questionnaires of the EEC (confidential and non-confidential versions), requesting details regarding the methods and the volume of the answers needed, etc.
6. Having the timeframe extended for the information to be provided (if needed)
7. Ensuring participation in public hearings within the framework of the anti-dumping investigation.