Category: Russia

On June 1, 2014, the Pepeliaev Group launched what it describes as “a fully fledged service providing legal support for Korean investors in Russia.”  

According to the firm, the Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers and Korean specialists will provide advice and support on matters including potential geographical regions for investment, minimizing tax burdens, dealing with state authorities, and other matters.

The firm’s Korean Desk will be led by Cheong Noh-Chung. Noh-Chung is an experienced Korean lawyer specializing in both Korean and Russian law who — the firm claims — was the first foreigner admitted to the Moscow City Bar in 2006. Until recently Noh-Chung was a partner in the Korean Shin & Kim law firm. He obtained a bachelor’s degree of law in Seoul and an LLM in Moscow. 

The Russian FBK law firm has announced that it has prepared notification on controlled transactions in 2013 on behalf of client Alexion Pharma.

According to Oksana Soldatov, Director of FBK’s Department of Business Process Outsourcing, “In accordance with current legislation on transfer pricing companies are obliged to inform the tax authorities about transactions between related parties, and should send a special notice. FBK … provides qualified outsourcing processes for the preparation of the relevant documentation.”

Alexion Pharma is the Russian representative of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, with offices and representatives in more than 20 countries.

Slaughter and May is advising North Atlantic Drilling (NADL) and Seadrill Limited on a long term Investment and Co-operation Agreement with Rosneft to pursue growth opportunities offshore and onshore in the Russian drilling market at least through 2022.

As part of the arrangements, which were announced on May 26, 2014, NADL will enter the onshore drilling market in Russia and enter into contracts for up to 9 offshore drilling units with a total commitment of 35 rig years. In addition, Rosneft will acquire a significant equity stake in NADL. Closing of the transaction is expected in the second half of 2013, subject to customary due diligence, agreement on further detailed transaction terms, and respective Board approvals.

NADL is an offshore harsh environment drilling company with a focus on the North Atlantic basin. It is listed on the NYSE and Norwegian OTC with a market capitalization of approximately USD 2.1 billion. Seadrill currently owns 70% of the outstanding shares and will remain the largest shareholder in NADL after the initial transaction. 

Alf Ragnar Lovdal, the Chief Executive Officer of NADL, issued a formal statement: “We have sought to access the growth opportunity represented by the Russian market for several years, and we are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Rosneft for this landmark transaction.  The Russian market is one of the most attractive opportunities in the world and offers tremendous growth potential for North Atlantic Drilling.  By partnering best in class drilling with a supermajor who produces over 5m barrels per day, we, after closing of this transaction, will have created a powerful force in the Russian market and for Arctic regions on a global basis.  We look forward to closing this important transaction and working with Rosneft for many years to come”

Slaughter and May is working as a team with Wiersholm and Alrud on the transaction.

The Integrites law firm has announced that it acted as Russian legal counsel to the London and Utrecht branches of Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (trading as Rabobank International) in connection with revolving facilities valued at up to EUR 120 million.

The first deal involved a EUR 50 million revolving standby facility to OJSC Novolipetsk Steel. According to an Integrites statement, the firm’s advice “was provided in relation to Russian law mandatory legal requirements applicable to security documents and required conditions precedent. Integrites also conducted a corporate due diligence of the Russian guarantor.”

The firm’s banking and finance team also advised Rabobank’s Utrecht branch on possible legal risks and consequences from a Russian legal perspective in connection with the restructuring of NLMK, one of the largest steel companies in the world, involving the terms of Rabobank’s provision of financing for a maximum amount of EUR 70 million. 

Rabobank is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company, ranking among the 30 largest financial institutions in the world.

The Russian FBK law firm has participated in an audit of the Bank of Russia, reviewing its financial documents for 2013.

FBK was part of consortium along with PwC, which audited and expressed a qualified opinion that the annual financial statements of the Bank of Russia, in all material respects, fully complied with the “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia)” law, the “On accounting” law, and the Bank of Russia’s internal rules

According to FBK Partner and Vice-President for Audit and Consulting Services to Financial Institutions Alexey Terekhov, this was the first time an audit report has been signed by both FBK and PwC. This is eighth audit of the Bank of Russia FBK has participated in.

Debevoise & Plimpton has advised Titan Group on the establishment of Poliom, a joint venture based on the Omsk Polypropylene Plant.

As part of the deal, Sibgazpolimer, a joint venture between SIBUR and Gazprom Neft, acquired a 50% stake in Poliom from Titan Group. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Gazprom Neft is to supply Poliom with raw materials (propane-propylene fraction from the Omsk Refinery), and SIBUR will sell Poliom’s products through its distribution network.

Titan Group is the largest petrochemical company in Siberia, and owns a portfolio of petrochemical, agricultural, and infrastructure facilities.

The Debevoise team was led by Moscow Managing Partner Dmitry Nikiforov and Senior Associate Natalia Putilina. The team also included Moscow-based Associates Nik Kutnaks, Anna Martyushova, Mikhail Movshovich, and Svetlana Panfilova, as well as London-based Associate Vadim Ardatovsky.

Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners has advised Ozon on antitrust issues related to its acquisition of controlling shares in the LitRes and Best-book online bookstores. The transaction price was not disclosed. 

Ozon, established in 1998, is the largest Russian online retailer, selling primarily books, electronics, music, and movies. LitRes claims to be the “No. 1 eBooks store in Russia”, with 380 thousand eBooks for sale, more than 5 million unique visitors per month, and sales last year of over 2.5 million ebooks.

Partner Alexander Nektorov and Associates Anastasia Savelieva and Maria Ivanova worked on the transaction. 

The YUST law firm has represented the Russian Public Library (RPL) and the Russian Ministry of Culture in their claim against the United States for return of 7 books from the rare Schneerson Collection to Russia.

According to YUST, the Moscow Court of Arbitration “concluded the consideration of the case on May 22 of 2014 and declared the operative part of the judgment, which upheld the claim by the Russian Public Library and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation to oblige the respondents to return to the RPL 7 books from the so-called Schneerson Collection.”

A statement on the YUST website claims that in January 1994, pursuant to a formal request by the American Library of Congress, the RPL sent 7 books from the Schneerson Collection for temporary use within the scope of international exchange of library funds. The initial agreement between the two was for 60 days, but the books were not returned to Russia. The RPL officially notified the Library of Congress of the need to return the books in March of 2013, but the notification was ignored. After that, the RPL and the Ministry of Culture or Russia (which exercises the powers of the books’ owner on behalf of Russia) filed the above-stated claim with the Court.

In ruling that the books must be returned to Russia, the Moscow Court of Arbitration also declared that the United States must pay daily damages of USD 50,000 for non-conformance with its ruling, an award YUST described as “one of the first of its kind in the Russian arbitration practice.” 

The parties now have one month to appeal the judgment before it become final and binding.

YUST Senior Partner Yury Pilipenko, Managing Partner Evgeny Zhilin, Partner Alexander Yevdokimov, and Advocate Mikhail Chugunov represented the Russian Public Library and the Ministry of Culture.

Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners lawyers have successfully protected the interests of their client Uralvagonzavod in a complex and lengthy patent litigation in the Ninth Appelate Court.

A team of MZS lawyers — led by Partner Anton Aleksandrov — convinced that Court that the Federal Service for Intellectual Property erroneously and improperly terminated Uralvagonzavod’s patent for a railroad car truck invention. According to an MZS press release, “the patented invention has long been heavily used in Russian and foreign railroad cars.” 

Uralvagonzavod — the name means “Urals Railroad Cars Manufacturing Plant” — is a Russian machine building company located in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, and the largest main battle tank manufacturer in the world. The company’s main products include railway cars, tanks, road-building vehicles, agricultural vehicles, metallurgical products, tools, and other consumer goods.

Alrud has promoted Of Counsel Anton Dzhuplin to Partner. Dzhuplin joined Alrud in May 2007, and progressed from Associate, to Senior Associate and then Of Counsel.

He specializes in both Corporate and Banking/Finance work, as well as in restructuring and insolvency projects and different types of commercial deals. Anton Dzhuplin is responsible for Alrud business development in lifescience/pharma, IT, telecom and agribusiness spheres. 

According to Alrud, Dzhuplin’s clients include “the AKVION Group (a recognized Russian producer of pharmaceutical and health care products), Kernel Holdings S.A. (one of the largest sunflower oils producers in Eastern Europe), Mironivsky Hliboproduct (one of the leading agro-industrial companies in Ukraine), Trafigura B.V., Skype, Eurasian Development Bank, and OTP Bank.” 

Dzhuplin said of the step up to partnership that, “promotion to Partner opens up new horizons for professional growth as well as for contribution into the firm’s development and market recognition.”