Category: Russia

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has 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.

Solntse Mexico is part of the Gruma group, a global producer of corn and flour tortillas headquartered in Mexico. It has been operating in Russia since 1996. In the autumn of 2017, Solntse Mexico launched a new production site near Moscow –Gruma International Foods’ 75th worldwide.

According to an EPAM press release, “the Court overturned a previous ruling from the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeal, which would have required [Solntse Mexico] to reimburse RUB 120 million in unjust enrichment in the form of electricity consumed outside the scope of a contract. A Moscow City Commercial Court decision requiring the recovery of RUB 1.3 million from [Solntse], reflecting the amount of electricity actually consumed, was upheld.”

“The court took into account the factual circumstances of the case and irregularities on the part of the grid company involved,” EPAM reported. “A unique aspect of the firm’s success lies in the fact that, on the whole, legal practice in this area does not favor consumers.”

The EPAM lawyers representing Solntse Mexico in the case included Partners Valery Eremenko and Taras Rabko, Counsel Ekaterina Slivko, Senior Associate Sergey Ustalov, and Associates Ruslan Mekhtiev and Anton Kleshchenko.

Clifford Chance’s Moscow office has advised CDB Aviation Lease Finance DAC on a long-term lease of three Boeing 737-800 aircraft to Russian carrier Nordwind Airlines. Debevoise reportedly advised Nordwind.

The first 737-800 was delivered to Nordwind on July 27, the second was delivered on August 1, and the final aircraft is expected to arrive towards the end of August. The 737-800s are configured in a single economy class layout and will be operated on Nordwind’s domestic routes.

The Clifford Chance team was led by Moscow Managing Partner and Head of Aviation Victoria Bortkevicha, supported by Senior Associate Vadim Turtsev and Associate Dmitry Elkin.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (Russia) has successfully represented Samsung C&T Corporation in proceedings against Rostovskiy ElectroMetallurgicheskiy Zavod involving REMZ’s alleged breach of a supply contract.

REMZ was ordered to pay USD 1.05 million of principal debt and USD 790,000 in damages. The Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the court of first instance on REMZ’s appeal, affirming it without modification.

Samsung C&T Corporation focuses on residential and industrial engineering and construction, import and export of petrochemicals, coal, and steel.

The Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (Russia) team representing Samsung C&T Corporation was led by Dispute Resolution Partner Ivan Veselov and included Partner Sergey Milanov and Dispute Resolution Associates Dmitry Mileshin, Pavel Ryavkin, and Ksenia Vaizullina.

Former Clifford Chance Partner Tamer Amara and his team have joined the Moscow office of Dentons.

Amara worked for nearly 20 years at Clifford Chance, where he headed the Debt Capital Markets and Derivatives practice. Amara joins along with Filipp Petyukov, a senior associate specializing in debt and equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and derivatives.

Dentons Russia Managing Partner Florian Schneider said, “Tamer’s and Filipp’s arrival strengthens our Capital Markets and Banking and Finance practices, which have seen steady growth in recent years following the addition of a number of highly-experienced senior transactional specialists.”

Amara’s practice spans cross-border financing transactions principally within capital markets, derivatives, and financial regulatory advice. He advises financial institutions and corporate clients in the context of debt capital markets, margin lending, repos, restructuring and liability management, with a particular focus on Russia, the CIS, and Central and Southern Europe.

Tamer Amara commented, “Dentons’ extensive global reach, together with its long-established presence in Russia and the CIS provides an excellent platform to further develop the practice and complement the Firm’s strong offering.”

Amara received his education at the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Clifford Chance has advised 14 Russian and international banks on the USD 825 million facility for potash producer Uralkali. CMS advised Uralkali on the transaction.

According to Clifford Chance, the facility will be used to refinance existing loans and for general corporate purposes.The transaction was coordinated by ING as Documentation Agent and Societe Generale with Rosbank, alongside with Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank acting as Facility Agent and Security Agent. MUFG Bank and UniCredit acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners with Intesa Sanpaolo and Banca Intesa, Natixis and Bank Uralsib joined as Lead Arrangers, while Deutsche Bank, HSBC Bank and AO Raiffeisen Bank participated as Arrangers.

The Clifford Chance team was led by Managing Partner Victoria Bortkevicha with the support of Counsel Adam Fadian, Senior Associate Jan Galin, and Associate Arina Skrebkova.

The CMS team included Counsel Elena Tchoubykina and Associate Aleksandra Kobzeva.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has advised international investment company Verno on its management of the Kazakhstan Infrastructure Fund C.V. in a project involving the development and letting of around 25,000 square meters of warehouse premises.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) worked alongside Kazakhstan’s Centil Law firm on the matter, which involves the first phase of a bigger plan to construct up to 100,000 square meters of Class A warehouse space in Kazakhstan. According to BCLP, “the warehouse infrastructure, which affords perfect conditions for storing all types of freight, will be located on the Kazakhstan-China border, in the Khorgos Eastern Gates special economic zone, which is a key transit point on the New Silk Road.”

The Moscow-based BCLP team was led by Partner Anton Panchenkov and included Senior Associates Kseniya Shevchenko and Dimitri Antipin and Junior Associate Ragima Rashkueva.

The St. Petersburg office of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has successfully defended the interests of Russian airline Aviastar-TU in a long-running dispute regarding an aircraft engine maintenance contract.

According to EPAM, “in the course of maintaining the engines of the Aviastar-TU fleet, the maintenance company sought to revise the contract terms, invoicing for work beyond the scope of the contract. Moreover, the cost of work was calculated on the basis of highly excessive rates that had been set unilaterally by the maintenance company for years. Following lengthy proceedings to settle the dispute, the courts upheld the position of Aviastar-TU regarding interpretation of the contract terms on payment for engine running time, and held that the maintenance company was acting unlawfully.”

The EPAM team was led by Managing Partner Ivan Smirnov and included Senior Associates Evgeny Gurchenko and Artem Magunov and Associate Alexander Svashenko.

Former Pepeliaev Group lawyers Vladimir Sokov, Sergey Klimenko, Nigina Rabieva, and Radmila Nikitina have moved, with their teams, to Dentons’ Moscow office.

Vladimir Sokov specializes in corporate law, M&A, commercial law, antitrust, and real estate in life sciences. “Over his professional career of almost 15 years,” Dentons reports, “Vladimir has handled major M&A projects and has successfully participated in numerous corporate litigations as instructed by well-known transnational and Russian companies.” He headed the Corporate practice group at the Pepelieav Group, where he had been since 2009, and managed Hannes Snellman’s Moscow office for the three years before that.

Sergey Klimenko will head Dentons’ Life Sciences practice in Russia. According to Dentons, “he has extensive experience advising companies in the life sciences industry on a wide range of regulatory and commercial matters, including complex issues relating to the circulation of medicines, medical devices and biomedical cell products, healthcare services, PPP in healthcare, asset deals regarding medicines, medical devices, and other products for human and animal health, genetic engineering, biotechnology for agricultural companies, public procurement.” He headed the Life Sciences practice at the Pepeliaev Group, which he joined in October, 2012, and he has previous experience as the Head of Legal at an unnamed pharmaceutical company.

Dentons reports that Nigina Rabieva “has extensive experience advising Russian and foreign companies in the life sciences and industrial sectors on a wide range of corporate, commercial, PPP and real estate issues, as well as on regulatory and environmental law issues.” She was head of Real Estate & Construction at the Pepeliaev Group, which she joined in January 2011, and she spent a year before that at Renaissance Capital.

Radmila Nikitina, who headed the Commercial/Antitrust practice at the Pepeliaev Group, specializes in competition and commercial law. Dentons describes her as having “significant experience in advising Russian and foreign clients on a wide range of issues relating to the application of the legislation on cartels, abuse of dominance, vertical restraints, public procurement and unfair competition,” and the firm reports that she “represents clients before Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service and in state commercial courts in competition related cases.” Before joining the Pepeliaev Group in June 2016, she was Head of Competition at the YUST law firm, which she joined in 2010, and spent two years before that as an Associate at Alrud.

Florian Schneider, Dentons Russia Managing Partner, said: “We welcome the arrival of the new team. These are lawyers with impressive experience in their practice areas and their joining Dentons will substantially expand our capabilities in Russia, in particular in Life Sciences and Competition.”

Partner Vladimir Sokov commented: “We are excited to join the largest law firm in the world. Our goal is to continue supporting our clients using magnificent opportunities provided by Dentons. A great professional team is a real value here.” 

Partner Sergey Klimenko added: “We are delighted to become a part of Dentons’ big family. Throughout our career, we have done our best to serve our client’s needs and we look forward to continuing to do so from Denton’s magnificent platform.” 

White & Case has advised Baltic Gas Chemical on the construction of a methanol plant project in Ust-Luga, an industrial port in Russia’s Leningrad region.

BGCC is the initiator and operator of the methanol plant project, which consists of the construction of a world-scale methanol plant from natural gas with a capacity of 1.7 million tonnes per annum, and a sea export terminal in Ust-Luga. The enterprise is due to be launched before 2023.

White & Case advised BGCC on the license agreement for the production of methanol that was signed with Haldor Topsoe AS and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering on May 25, 2018 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The firm’s team was co-led by Moscow Local Partner Nikolay Feoktistov and Counsel Daria Plotnikova, and included New York Partner Jean Shimotake.

Maxima Legal has advised financial blockchain platform Zodiaq on its initial coin offering.

The ultimate goal for the platform, according to Maxima Legal, “is to become a crypto-currency bank and exchange, as well as a hedge-fund and universal payment system.” 

The initial stage of the ICO, which Zodiaq hopes will generate 104 million dollars, took place in May 2018.

According to Maxima Legal, “Russian start-up Zodiaq became one of the first projects to be founded as a bank with a license to handle transactions with crypto-currencies.” Issued by the Comoros Islands, the license provides authority for the bank to undertake a wide range of financial transactions for individuals and legal entities, including opening accounts, accepting deposits, and issuing credit. The platform is expected to support at least 150 different cryptocurrencies.

Maxim Ali, Head of IP/IT at Maxima Legal, commented: “The professional challenge of Zodiaq’s matter is not only the fast-changing legislative environment of the sector but also the significant number of legal gaps in respect of the regulation of the crypto-currencies and ICOs around the world. Considering the wide transnational character of the project, we need to give particular attention to the legislation of a number of jurisdictions including the Isle of Man, Cayman Islands, Comoros, the UK, the USA, Switzerland, Finland and a number of other EU countries and South-Asian countries in order to offer the client the optimal legal solutions.”

As part of the legal assistance in the matter, Maxima Legal reports that it “analyzed the scheme created by Zodiaq and provided advice on dealings between investors and users, as well as helping with developing legal documentation for the use of a website and other services of the project.”