Category: Ukraine

The Ukrainian law firm Gestors has opened an office in the UK, headed by lawyer Alexander Spak. 

“Spak has ten years of experience working in English commercial and corporate law,“ according to Gestors, “as well as in civil disputes and international arbitration in England and EU countries.“

Spak is a member of the Bar Council of England & Wales and a solicitor from the Law Society of England & Wales. Before this appointment he worked in the Christian Legal Center, Andrew Storch Solicitors, Morgan Has Solicitors, and Paradigma LLP – all based in the UK.

CMS has advised ING, the lead mandated arranger and book runner for the EUR 100 million financing of MHP’s acquisition of Slovenian poultry producer Perutnina Ptuj.

MHP is a poultry producer in Ukraine and, following completion of the transaction at the beginning of this year (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on March 6, 2019), it has become the owner of 90.69 percent of Perutnina Ptuj. 

The CMS cross-border team was led by Warsaw-based Partner Mark Segall and Kyiv-based Senior Associate Kateryna Chechulina, assisted by Partner Tetyana Dovgan, Associate Khrystyna Korpan, and Lawyer Ivan Pshyk in Kyiv and Partner Maja Zgajnar in Ljubljana.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published CEE Legal Matters learned that ODI Law advised MHP on the compliance of the financing underlying its acquisition of Perutnina Ptuj with Slovenian law, as well as for the acquisition itself. The firm’s team on the financing compliance issues was led by Managing Partner Uros Ilic, assisted by Senior Associate Primoz Mikolic and Managing Associate Klemen Kos.

Avellum has acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to the EBRD and Nederlandse Financierings – Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. in connection to a EUR 24.5 million senior secured loan granted to LLC Chysta Enerhiia-2011, with 50% from each. Integrites reportedly advised Chysta Enerhiia-2011 on the deal.

According to Avellum, the loan proceeds will be used to finance the construction and operation of a solar photovoltaic plant in the Cherkasy region, Ukraine, with the aggregate installed capacity of 30 megawatts. 

The project directly contributes towards achieving the government’s 15% target for renewable electricity generation by 2030 (it currently accounts for approximately 2%). The EBRD portion will be funded under its Ukraine Sustainable Energy Lending Facility.

FMO is the Netherlands Development Finance Company financing long-term, sustainable projects which power economies, promote the transition to a low-carbon system, and safeguard energy security. Since early 2000, FMO is active in Ukraine, also with investments in private equity funds, agribusiness, and the financial sector.

The Avellum team was led by Senior Partner Glib Bondar with the support of Counsel Maria Tsabal, Senior Associate Tetiana Mykhailenko, and Associates Dmytro Symbiryov, Daryna Mykhailenko, Anna Mykhalova, and Anna Kalabska. 

CMS Ukraine has advised Acciona Energia on all aspects of its joint venture projects with UDP Renewables, a Ukrainian investment and development company for the renewable energy sector. Everlegal reportedly advised UDP Renewables on the deal.

Acciona is a global investor and operator of renewable energy projects.

As part of the projects, Acciona Energia and UDP Renewables will construct two new solar power plants, Gudzovka-Solar and Arcyz-Solar, in the Odesa region of Ukraine, with an aggregate peak capacity of 44 megawatts. 

The CMS team was led by Partners Vitaliy Radchenko and Tetyana Dovgan, supported by Managing Partner Graham Conlon, Partner Olga Belyakova, Lawyer Diana Pysarenko, Senior Associate Nataliya Nakonechna, and Associates Vitalii Mainarovych, Mariana Saienko, and Mykola Heletiy.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Everlegal confirmed its involvement in the deal. The firm’s team was led by Partner Andriy Olenyuk, assisted by Managing Partner Yevheniy Deyneko, Senior Associate Yuliia Kylchynska, Associate Alina Zhuk, and Junior Associates Mykyta Stebliuk, Olha Horodniuk, and Vladyslav Lazarevych.  

On November 9, 2020, CMS informed CEE Legal Matters that the project had been “built and commissioned.”

Aequo has acted as Ukrainian law counsel to the European Fund for Southeast Europe on its granting of a USD ten million loan to Ukraine’s OTP Leasing LLC.

Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau, a German state-owned development bank, is the initiator of the European Fund for Southeast Europe, which is a Luxembourg-based fund focusing on the development of local financial sectors in Southeast Europe and parts of Central Asia by providing long-term funding for micro- and small enterprises, as well as private households.

The international investors in the EFSE include the European Union, and the governments of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, as well as the International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, and National Development Institutions of Western and Southeast Europe. 

According to Aequo, the loan will be directed to financing leasing transactions with Ukrainian SMEs, which are engaged in agriculture, livestock, and agro-processing and have their main business operations in rural areas.

Aequo Partner Yulia Kyrpa commented, “the loan is significant support for OTP Leasing and its clients. To date, EFSE has cooperated with banks in the Ukrainian financial sector, but leasing is a good alternative to classical financing, especially for small enterprises in the agricultural sector, and this transaction is yet another evidence of EFSE’s commitment to supporting economic development and prosperity of Ukraine.” 

The Aequo team was led by Partner Yulia Kyrpa and included Counsel Bohdan Dmukhovskyy and Associate Olesia Mashtaler.

Asters successfully represented Sanofi Ukraine in a challenge to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine’s finding of a purported competition law violation.

On May 30, 2019, Ukraine’s Supreme Court issued a final decision in a one-and-a-half-year case. The court found that the allegations of antitrust law violation made against Sanofi Ukraine were groundless and annulled the multi-million fine levied by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

According to Asters, in the series of investigations initiated by the AMC against global pharma companies and their local distributors, Sanofi Ukraine is the only one to win in a dispute with the authority. 

The Asters team consisted of Partners Igor Svechkar, Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, and Oleksandr Vozniuk, Counsel Tetiana Vovk, and Associates Nazar Chuchak and Associate Oleksandr Volkov.

Sayenko Kharenko has advised the Bergner group, a European manufacturer of houseware, on the acquisition of a majority interest in an unidentified Ukrainian distribution company, and on the establishment of a joint venture with an unidentified local partner aimed at developing the distribution network for Bergner products in Ukraine.

The Sayenko Kharenko team included Partner Oleksandr Nikolaichyk and Associates Ilhar Hakhramanov, Sviatoslav Kozak, and Angelina Danyleiko.

Integrites has advised Ukrainian payment system LEO on its registration as an international payment system.

LEO becomes the fourth “international” payment system of the 14 payment systems currently registered in Ukraine.

The Integrites team included Partner Oleh Zahnitko and Senior Associate Yuri Korchev.

LEZO Attorneys at Law has announced that Bohdan Masekha, Serhii Mazur, and Andriy Agafonov have been promoted to Associate Partner.

Masekha specializes in litigation and general corporate law, Mazur specializes in intellectual property and corporate law, and Agafonov specializes in banking and finance and litigation.

“This is a logical result of our rapid growth as an independent law firm,” said LEZO Managing Partner Nataliia Fedyk. “Litigation, especially in banking and finance disputes, is our key competence as the former in-house department of a bank. [These] new appointments are aimed at strengthening the management team and developing the company’s key services.”

Ilyashev & Partners is representing Ukranian state-owned enterprise Antonov before the District Court of Kyiv in proceedings against Rosaviation and AMTES GmbH.

Antonov, which is part of Ukrainian state concern Ukroboronprom. develops, produces, and repairs An-type series aircraft, and is responsible for maintaining the aircraft’s structural integrity during its entire operating run. AMTES is an aircraft maintenance and engineering company based out of Leipzig and cooperating with Volga-Dnepr.

Following a complaint filed by Antonov, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are investigating Rosaviation and AMTES in relation to extensions given to AMTES certificates that grant “airworthiness” to their aircraft. Antonov states that these extensions were given without “any involvement of Antonov” which “jeopardized the safe operation of these aircraft.”

On May 28, 2019, the District Court of Kyiv seized and prohibited any operation of the five civil transport aircraft An-124-100 owned by Volga-Dnepr Airlines Russia upon a motion filed by the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv. 

The Ilyashev & Partners team is led by Partner Roman Marchenko.