Category: Russia

Igor Baranovsky has joined BGP Litigation as Chairman of the firm’s Partners Committee.

According to BGP Litigation, “Baranovsky for many years held the managing positions in the companies of the Alfa Group Consortium — in particular, Alfa Eco and A1, [which is] the key investment unit of the Group. He is one of the founders of А-Group, which was incorporated in 2014. The company has successfully implemented several large-scale projects of outstanding complexity. Baranovsky has over 25 years of professional experience in direct investments and special situations. He has consulted the largest Russian and foreign business structures and participated in the implementation of dozens of important investment projects in Russia and the CIS. He has vast business contacts and a high professional and personal reputation in Russia and abroad.”

According to a statement released by BGP, “the track record of new Chairman of BGP Partners Committee includes participation in the project on Smirnoff sale to one of the largest actors on the world alcohol market — Diageo Corporation, negotiation of disagreements with the world leader of the beer industry — Sun Interbrew corporation, participation in settlement of the widely known disputes in Tyumen Oil Company OJSC, MegaFon OJSC, Amur Zoloto. Baranovsky has also taken active part in such projects as Angara Petrochemical Company, Vimpelcom OJSC, Kama Pulp and Paper Mill, Alfa Sheremetyevo, Volga Pulp and Paper Mill in Balakhna, Kosmos Hotel Resort, Petrosakh Oil Company OJSC and other. The latest successful projects include participation in the settlement of conflict between ERG and Eurochem and participation in the dispute resolution between ERG and Ardila Investment.”

“I am absolutely sure that we will discover new engaging professional horizons in the nearest future,” said Baranovsky, “in effective legal practices, direct investments, and in special situations. We also intend to increase materially BGP client base and to extend its representation in various Russian regions and CIS countries. Our strength, our competitive advantage is delicate, creative, and, when required, hard-driving work across top-quality legal solutions and profound expertise on the functioning principles of modern business processes. We will strive to be among the first here. What is more — the very first.”

Timur Unarokov, BGP Litigation Managing Partner, added: “Impeccable reputation, keen understanding of the core of our business from the inside, Igor’s first-rate managerial, professional and personal experience, all these will certainly strengthen our leadership in dispute resolution and business restructuring in Russia and the CIS. It will create a powerful launching ground for a next step forward. The very fact that a professional like Mr. Baranovsky has joined BGP indicates that the steps we have taken to develop our firm are correct and the strategy chosen by our partners is true.”

FBK Legal has represented Yamaha in a successful debt recovery matter involving equipment it supplied worth more than RUB 200 million against a Russian dealer. FBK Legal also won a lawsuit initiated by the dealer who tried to contest a mortgage agreement used as collateral for the debt.

According to Elena Bokareva, Manager of FBK Legal’s Corporate Practice. the dealer’s lawsuit against Yamaha for annulment of the mortgage agreement was filed in response to Yamaha’s lawsuit for debt collection and mortgage foreclosure. “By filing this lawsuit the dealer expected to suspend the proceedings in the initial case,” she said. “By separating the lawsuit on mortgage foreclosure we managed to avoid suspension and recover the entire debt.”

FBK Legal Senior Lawyer Marina Balandina explained that,“it took a lot of hard work for us to collect source delivery documents supporting importation of each of more than 400 pieces of equipment to Russia and their delivery to the dealer’s warehouse.”

Russia’s KIAP law firm has announced the opening of a Blockchain Technologies practice, headed by Partner Mikhail Uspenskiy.

According to KIAP, “some experts identify technologies related to blockchain as ‘new Internet.’ The majority of them admit that this technology is able to radically change many areas of the economy and especially the financial sector. According to RBC, in 2017 the Russian projects have raised USD 293 million through the issuance of tokens on the blockchain, which is twice more than total volume of the venture investment in Russia last year.”

KIAP’s new practice is divided into two main areas: “analysis of the blockchain projects for compliance with the requirements of current legislation (due diligence), and full legal support of Token Generation Events (TGE) – starting from the selection of jurisdiction for incorporating SPV to the opening of the bank accounts.”

According to KIAP, new practice head Mikhail Uspenskiy is highly regarded in tax and corporate law, and “beyond that he is a member of the Association of cryptocurrency and blockchain-industry of Singapore (Access), a Member of the ICC Russia Task Force on the use of blockchain in trade finance and speaker and participant of industry events for blockchain technologies.”

“Over and above, we plan to provide significant intellectual resource to analyze this sphere,” commented KIAP Managing Partner Andrey Korelskiy, in a statement released by the firm, “to seek for new forms in civil, corporate and tax areas and also to support the science and the legislator on a pro bono basis in developing effective approaches to new rules and regulation in this sphere.”

DLA Piper is reporting that it acted as the official legal partner of a project that brings a Russian production of Peter Morgan’s celebrated play The Audience to the stage.

According to DLA, “the play focuses on the private weekly meetings held between Queen Elizabeth II and the succession of prime ministers who have served during her long reign. The Russian version of this originally British production is directed by Gleb Panfilov and is staged at Moscow’s Theatre of Nations. Inna Churikova, one of Russia’s most revered cinema and theatre actresses, features as the British Queen – a role which was originally portrayed by Dame Helen Mirren in London’s West End.”

DLA Piper’s Moscow and St. Petersburg teams provided pro bono support in connection with the acquisition of the rights to the play from the playwright and producers. The firm also assisted in negotiating the production rights with the Moscow venue and advised on commercial, intellectual property, and tax issues of the production. 

The firm’s team was led by Constantine Lusignan-Rizhinashvili, CIS Managing Partner, and included Tax Partner Elena Mikhailovskaia, IPT Counsel Michael Malloy, and Corporate Senior Associate Angelika Yakhneva.

Vegas Lex has advised Sanofi on its entrance into one of the first federal special investment contracts with the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Oryol Region Government.

According to Vegas Lex, “on October 16, 2017, Sanofi, a global integrated healthcare leader, announced the signing of a Special Investment Contract (SPIC) to modernize its pharmaceutical facility, the Sanofi-Aventis Vostok plant in the Oryol Region, and to launch the production of pharmaceuticals that have no Russian-made analogues. The signing ceremony was held at the plenary meeting of the Foreign Investment Advisory Council, attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi Olivier Brandicourt. Other officials present included Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Governor of the Oryol Region Andrei Klychkov, and General Director of Sanofi Russia Naira Adamyan. The plan is to modernize production, to expand the local manufacturing of new-generation innovative insulin to a finished dosage form by 2019, and further develop Russia’s export potential for the supply of modern insulins manufactured in the Oryol Region. A Special Investment Contract guarantees a manufacturer expanding the local production stable tax rates and other official requirements, and a local status for the drug manufactured under the SPIC up until the finished dosage form production begins.”

Vegas Lex prepared the documents and was involved in negotiations for the conclusion and subsequent implementation of the SPIC.

BGP Litigation has announced the addition of former Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan Moscow Managing Partner Kirill Parinov as Managing Partner for Strategic Growth, responsible for increasing the number and size of the firm’s practices and expanding the firm’s geographic footprint.

Parinov joined Quinn Emanuel in September 2016 after spending many years as General Counsel and Deputy General Director for Corporate, Property, and Legal Affairs and a member of the Management Board in Norilsk Nickel and Interros Group, and several years before that as Senior Vice President and General Counsel in the Sidanko Oil Company.

Parinov has a degree from Lomonosov Moscow State University and a Master’s from Southern Methodist University in the United States.

According to BGP, “Parinov’s qualification is extremely widespread and includes complex judicial disputes, including cross-border and financial ones, international arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, development of overall financing strategies on international markets. Kirill Parinov is a regular speaker at international seminars and conferences, he is also a well-known expert on television and in the mass media.”

Parinov commented on his appointment: “I am constantly contacting the directors of legal departments in the Russian large and medium-sized businesses. For my part, I can clearly emphasize the demand for law firms that can provide services to clients, on a single window basis, at a reasonable price on a full range of issues related to resolution of Russian and international disputes as well as in criminal and legal issues. All these components have brought me to the BGP Litigation team. I think such teams can be counted on one hand. I will be glad to contribute to the firm’s further strategic development for the benefit of its clients.” 

BGP Litigation Managing Partner Timur Unarokov called Parinov’s decision to join “an extremely important event for our firm.” According to Unarokov, “we have been successfully developing individual practices, and we have achieved prominent success and remarkable renown. Now it is time to strategically promote our firm in general. We have reached the stage to try creating some new practices simultaneously and expand our presence in Russia and abroad. In this process, Kirill, with his priceless experience … will be able to and should play a crucial part. We set challenging tasks and the addition of such an ambitious and aspiring person is, in turn, evidence that our plans are very serious.” 

BGP Litigation has announced the addition of former Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan Moscow Managing Partner Kirill Parinov as Managing Partner for Strategic Growth, responsible for increasing the number and size of the firm’s practices and expanding the firm’s geographic footprint.

Parinov joined Quinn Emanuel in September 2016 after spending many years as General Counsel and Deputy General Director for Corporate, Property, and Legal Affairs and a member of the Management Board in Norilsk Nickel and Interros Group, and several years before that as Senior Vice President and General Counsel in the Sidanko Oil Company.

Parinov has a degree from Lomonosov Moscow State University and a Master’s from Southern Methodist University in the United States.

According to BGP, “Parinov’s qualification is extremely widespread and includes complex judicial disputes, including cross-border and financial ones, international arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, development of overall financing strategies on international markets. Kirill Parinov is a regular speaker at international seminars and conferences, he is also a well-known expert on television and in the mass media.”

Parinov commented on his appointment: “I am constantly contacting the directors of legal departments in the Russian large and medium-sized businesses. For my part, I can clearly emphasize the demand for law firms that can provide services to clients, on a single window basis, at a reasonable price on a full range of issues related to resolution of Russian and international disputes as well as in criminal and legal issues. All these components have brought me to the BGP Litigation team. I think such teams can be counted on one hand. I will be glad to contribute to the firm’s further strategic development for the benefit of its clients.” 

BGP Litigation Managing Partner Timur Unarokov called Parinov’s decision to join “an extremely important event for our firm.” According to Unarokov, “we have been successfully developing individual practices, and we have achieved prominent success and remarkable renown. Now it is time to strategically promote our firm in general. We have reached the stage to try creating some new practices simultaneously and expand our presence in Russia and abroad. In this process, Kirill, with his priceless experience … will be able to and should play a crucial part. We set challenging tasks and the addition of such an ambitious and aspiring person is, in turn, evidence that our plans are very serious.” 

Former BBH Partners Jiri Sterba and Anastasia Tomashevskaya have left the Moscow office of that Czech firm to open their own law firm in Moscow, Sterbatomashevskaya, in the process drawing BBH’s Moscow operations to a close.

Sterba, a Czech lawyer, had been a partner at BBH since 2009, and was head of BBH’s Moscow office when, at the beginning of 2017, he and Tomashevskaya agreed with BBH management to wind down the firm’s Moscow presence. He described the process as “a very friendly dissolution,” and he reports that “the intention of both parties was to have us continue to serve BBH’s Moscow clients. We tried to make it as seamless as possible, to continue with running projects —we just re-executed new agreements.”

Still, he insists that he and Tomashevskaya are charting a different path. “We’re completely independent, and there’s no exclusivity between us and BBH — we’re operating on a best friend basis.” Indeed, he says, “we have a slightly different strategy in terms of fees, for instance, so we’ve been able to attract new clients.”

At the moment, Sterbatomashevskaya operates with several associates in the former BBH office space in Moscow, though Sterba says they’re looking to move. “We want to look at this business opportunity with slightly different eyes. We’re planning to move to different office spaces, and hire new people.”

In the meantime, “things are going very well, I must say. We are very busy. Frankly speaking I was quite afraid about what would happen when we left, because I was at BBH for 15 years, so I was worried about what would come, but I must say that we have enough work and several projects going on simultaneously in Russia, and we are also advising Russian clients on matters abroad, under English law, so we are doing quite nice and interesting work.”

Goltsblat BLP has advised PJSC MTS, a prominent telecommunications provider in Russia, on its acquisition of a controlling stake (50.82%) in the Russian retail software developer Oblachny Retail LLC, which operated under the LiteBox brand.

MTS also entered into an option agreement with the Oblachny Retail shareholders under which MTS has both a right and an obligation to purchase, at the request of minority shareholders, their shares at a price based on the company’s 2019 financial results. 

According to Goltsblat BLP, “PJSC MTS is a Russian telecommunications operator headquartered in Moscow. The company offers mobile communications (GSM, UMTS (3G) and LTE standards) and landline phone services, broadband Internet access, mobile, cable, satellite and digital TV. Its major shareholder is AFK Sistema, a Russian publicly-traded diversified holding company. Oblachny Retail LLC has been involved in retail software development since 2010. The start-up’s key product is LiteBox, a cloud-based cash register solution featuring end-to-end automation of cash services and online retail operations, including inventory and procurement management, sales and KPI analysis, as well as loyalty program management.”

The Goltsblat BLP team was led by Partner Ekaterina Dedova and included Partner Ian Ivory, Senior Associates Dimitri Antipin and Anton Nefedev, Associates Anastasia Kudryashova and Mikhail Filatov, and Junior Associate Ksenia Danshina, among others.

Linklaters has announced the appointment of former Herbert Smith Freehills Partner Vladimir Melnikov as Partner and Head of the Moscow Dispute Resolution practice. 

Melnikov was Co-Head of the Disputes Team at Herbert Smith from August 2012. According to Linklaters, “Vladimir has a broad dispute resolution experience advising Russian and international private and state-owned banks and corporates on cross-border litigation and arbitration, bankruptcy, and asset recovery matters as well as regulatory investigations.”

Dmitry Dobatkin, Linklaters Managing Partner for Russia, commented: “The strengthening of our dispute resolution offering is one of the strategic development priorities for Linklaters’ Russian and CIS practice. We are confident that under Vladimir Melnikov’s leadership our dispute resolution practice will step up to a new level allowing us to protect the interests of our clients even more effectively.”