Category: Russia

Morgan Lewis advised the Russian VTB Bank on a cash tender offer that closed for three of its outstanding Loan Participation Notes.

The tender offer involved USD 750 million 6.315% Loan Participation Notes due February 2018, its USD 2 billion 6.875% Loan Participation Notes due May 2018 and its USD 1 billion 6.551% Loan Participation Notes due October 2020.

The tender offer was launched on January 20, 2014 for up to an aggregate principal amount of $500 million of Notes across the three series. The offer expired on January 24, 2014, at which time approximately USD 643 million of Notes across the three series had been tendered. Approximately USD 291 million of the Notes tendered were accepted for purchase.

The tender offer was structured as an offer to purchase made by VTB Capital plc, a subsidiary of VTB, followed by a sale of the purchased Notes by VTB Capital plc to VTB. The purchase prices paid for the Notes were determined by a modified Dutch auction procedure. The dealer managers of the tender offer were Citigroup and VTB Capital.

Morgan Lewis served as English legal adviser to VTB on the tender offer. The Morgan Lewis team was led by Business and Finance Partners Carter Brod and Bruce Johnston, assisted by Associates Elizabeth Dennison and Thomas Webb.

Nadezhda Gryazeva has been promoted to Of Counsel in Denton’s Moscow office.

Gryazeva’s practice focuses on Russian Corporate/M&A law and foreign investments in the Russian Federation. She has also worked on Russian merger control requirements and provided legal support for compliance with the regulatory clearance procedures in share and asset acquisitions, and corporate restructurings.

Gryazeva joined the firm (then operating as Salans) in 2007 after working for several years for the ALRUD Law Firm.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has successfully defended the interests of employees of ZAO Alcoa Metallurg Rus in a Russian court.

The Yuzhnaya Operational Customs Office initiated a number of criminal proceedings against the employees of Alcoa Metallurg Rus, the Russian subsidiary of Alcoa, for an offense under Article 189(3) of the Russian Criminal Code related to international trade with foreign companies. The criminal cases were investigated by the Investigations Department of the Federal Security Service Directorate of Russia for Rostov Region.

The White Collar Defense team at Egorov Puginsky persuaded the Court that the charges were unfounded. The Alcoa Metallurg Rus employees were represented by Partner Viktoria Burkovskaya, Counselor Tatyana Nozhkina, and Associate Nikolay Kazantsev.

Even in Russia, deals for (almost) 3 billion dollars don’t happen every day.

Baker & McKenzie has announced that it advised Yamal Development, a 50/50 joint venture between Novatek and Gazprom, on a USD 2.940 billion acquisition of a 60 percent stake in Artic Russia from the Italian Eni oil and gas company. Artic Russia owns a 49 percent interest in SeverEnergia, a Russian oil and gas company operating in the Yamal-Nenets region of Russia.

Baker & McKenzie’s multi-jurisdictional team included Partners Jeroen Hoekstra and John Paans in Amsterdam, Hugh Stewart in London, and Sergei Voitishkin in Moscow. Support was provided by Associate Koen Bos in Amsterdam, Mark Richardson in London, and Sergey Krokhalev and Kirill Manshin.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe advised Sberbank on the financing to Yamal Development. Baker & McKenzie’s multi-jurisdictional team included Partners Jeroen Hoekstra and John Paans in Amsterdam, Hugh Stewart in London, and Sergei Voitishkin in Moscow. Support was provided by Associate Koen Bos in Amsterdam, Mark Richardson in London, and Sergey Krokhalev and Kirill Manshin.

The cross-border Orrick team was led by Moscow Corporate Partner Leo Batalov and Associate Maria Kazakova, as well as London Partner Anthony Riley, Of Counsel Richard Moudiotis, Associate Kirill Kholod.

BBH has hired Senior Lawyer Irina Martvel to head its Moscow office’s Litigation department.

Martvel’s professional experience includes corporate and commercial disputes, disputes with regulatory authorities, employment cases, disputes over consumer claims, bankruptcy proceedings, proceedings related to challenging arbitrary awards, and criminal cases.

The Russian Court of first instance has ruled in favor of the family of a victim of the 2002 so-called Nord-Ost siege conflict in Moscow.

As a result of the Court’s verdict, the family of the victim, represented by Specht Bohm Rechtsanwalt, will receive damages of over 100,000 Euros and additional monthly payments of 2,600 Euros.

The Nord-Ost siege occurred in October 2002, when forty Chechen militants, including 19 women with bombs attached to their waists, took over 850 people hostage during a performance of the “Nord-Ost” play at the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow. As an attempt to subdue the militants, Russian forces pumped toxic gas into the ventilation system of the theater, which also caused the deaths of many of the hostages. Ultimately over 130 hostages died during the rescue attempt.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has announced that Victoria Burkovskaya will join the partner ranks in the White Collar Crime Practice. 

Burkovskaya focuses on criminal proceedings and anti-corruption compliance, financial crimes, and personal data protection and cryptography. She is also a Professor in the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminology at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and a member of the Criminal Law and Arbitration Board of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.

“I am honored to become a Partner at the largest law firm in Russia and the CIS. Due to our solid track record and unique expertise we hope to remain the first point of contact for our clients when it comes to the most sophisticated WCC issues,” Burkovskaya noted.

Russian Mergers & Acquisitions lawyer Mikhail Semyonov has joined Baker Botts as a Global Projects Partner in the firm’s Moscow office.

Semyanov had been at Linklaters for the past eleven years, before moving to Baker Botts.  He represents clients in major M&A and energy transactions in Russia and has experience in the establishment of joint ventures for both Russian-based and international clients. In recent years he has also advised multinational energy clients on major investments in the Russian oil and gas industry.

Maxim Levins, the Partner in Charge of Baker Botts’s Moscow office, said that “Mikhail enhances our strength in providing counsel to clients on complex M&A transactions,” and that “our recruitment of Mikhail demonstrates our continued commitment to maintaining the Moscow office as a global resource to our clients in the region or who are doing business here.” 

Semyanov’s recent work includes advising Rosneft in relation to agreements with ExxonMobil and Statoil for joint development of difficult-to-extract resources of hydrocarbons in Russia, and advising Gazprom on the acquisition of Sibneft (Gazpromneft) and Huadian, one of China’s major state owned power companies, on the formation together with TGK-2 of a joint venture project company to develop a 450MWt gas fueled power plant in the Yaroslaval region of Russia. 

Semyonov’s practice also includes providing corporate and transactional guidance to clients such as Unilever, Inchcape, and PepsiCo.

The international Akin Gump law firm has promoted lawyer Svetlana Anatolievna Volevich to Partner in the firm’s Moscow office, effective as of January 1, 2014.

Volevich is a member of Akin Gump’s corporate practice. She represents oil and gas and telecommunications companies on matters involving litigation, securities regulations, mergers and acquisitions, employment and general corporate matters. She was one of eight Akin Gump lawyers promoted to partner around the world in the new year.

Hogan Lovells has promoted transactional lawyer Leonid Ervits to Counsel in the firm’s Moscow office, effective as of January 1, 2014.

Ervits is an English and Australian-qualified lawyer, specializing in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and private equity work. Along with the news of Ervits’ promotion, Hogan Lovells announced that 29 lawyers at the firm had been promoted to Partner, and another 38 to Counsel, Of Counsel, and Consultant, world-wide.