Category: Ukraine

Baker McKenzie’s Kyiv, Frankfurt, Berlin, and Amsterdam Offices have helped a consortium of German banks led by Bayerische Landesbank, and DTEK Renewables complete an ECA-backed finance transaction in the Ukrainian renewable energy sector aimed at financing the construction of the first stage of the Primorska wind electric plant in Ukraine.

The borrower was Primorska WEP, a project company and a part of the DTEK Renewables group. It is indirectly owned by DTEK Renewables B.V., a Dutch holding for renewables of the larger DTEK group. Baker McKenzie acted as de facto transactional counsel for DTEK as well. 

The EUR 90 million loan facility’s original lenders were, amongst others, Bayerische Landesbank, Bremer Kreditbank Aktiengesellschaft, and KfW Ipex-Bank GmbH. The financing is supported by Euler Hermes, the German export credit agency.

According to Baker McKenzie, ”upon completion of the second stage and reaching its projected capacity of 200MW, Primorska WEP will be among the largest onshore wind farms by power output in Central and Eastern Europe.”

Philipp Leckebusch, CEO of DTEK Renewables, commented: “According to the Energy Strategy of Ukraine, the share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption should increase to 25% by the year 2035. The country depends on investments like our project in order to reach this target. We are glad to contribute with our project to the realization of the objectives of Ukraine’s Energy Strategy and the development of a secure and environmental-friendly energy sector in Ukraine.”

Baker McKenzie’s Frankfurt-based Finance Partner Kathrin Marchant added: “This is the most significant cross-border loan transaction in the Ukrainian renewable energy sector this year and the first of this size in the last years. It is a very good example of how ECA-backed financing together with the joint efforts of experienced teams of bankers, investors, exporters and advisers can assist in making a complex project in challenging circumstances a success.”

Baker McKenzie’s international team on this transaction was led by Kyiv Managing Partner Serhiy Chorny and Frankfurt-based Partner Kathrin Marchant, assisted by Berlin-based Partner Tim Heitling, Amsterdam Legal Director Martijn van der Vliet, and Kyiv Associates Victoria Ischenko, Stepanyda Badovska, and Nataliya Tyschenko. 

Axon Partners, with offices in Kyiv and Lviv, and Kharkiv’s Oksana Kobzar Law Office have announced that they will merge, operating going forward under the Axon Partners brand, and with offices in all three cities.

According to Dima Gadomsky, CEO of Axon Partners, “our merger has an efficient goal beyond increasing our number of lawyers up to 30. Both firms are ranked in the Legal 500, while Axon Partners is known as the top Ukrainian law firm in the tech industry. First, we want to get rid of the boutique style: now we have comprehensive practices of litigation, international taxation, and customs. Second, we are going beyond serving technology and media companies, but keeping our focus on innovation.”

He continued: “Tax and litigation practices are red oceans of the legal services market. We had not put them into separate practices earlier for two reasons. The first is that we were not ready to compete with the leaders: the Big-4 and Ukrainian BigLaw. Now we are powerful enough to compete with Ukrainian Big Law both externally (rankings) and internally (processes and level of expertise). Therefore, we can add new practices to our strong expertise in tech. The second reason is that usually tax and litigation lawyers get used to the role of a lawyer instead of being broad spectrum business consultants for the client. It’s great luck that we met and teamed up with Oksana.”

Finally, Gadomsky said, “it was more our dream than our strategy to have offices in the three largest tech centers of Ukraine. Large IT companies with development offices all over Ukraine will feel more secure with our lawyers nearby.” In addition, he concluded, “even though now we are focusing on big businesses, we will continue helping startups. Just because we’re bigger doesn’t mean we’re not still cool.”

Ilyashev & Partners has represents PJSC Podilskiy Cement, PJSC Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, PJSC Heidelbergcement Ukraine, and PJSC Ivano-Frankivscement in an anti-dumping investigation on imports to Ukraine of Portland cement clinker originating from the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, and the Republic of Moldova.

On July 4, 2018, Ilyashev & Partners initiated an anti-dumping investigation of imports of Portland cement clinker to Ukraine by filing a complaint on behalf of Ukrainian national producers, which occupy more than 50% of the local cement market. As a result, the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade decided to initiate an investigation.

“We are actively involved in the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, [by] trying to prove the threat of infliction of injury to the national producer from dumped imports to Ukraine,” said Olena Omelchenko, Head of International Trade Practice at Ilyashev & Partners, who led the firm’s team. “We will provide all the necessary information to save jobs in Ukraine and attract investments into the cement industry.”

According to Ilyashev & Partners, depending on the results of the investigation, an introduction of an anti-dumping duty on imports of cement from the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, and the Republic of Moldova might be necessary in order to ensure fair competition and protect Ukrainian producers from dumped imports. The investigation will take from 12-18 months.

Editor’s Note: On May 21, 2019, Ilyashev & Partners announced that the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade had decided to apply the final anti-dumping duties for five years on imports of cement into Ukraine, in particular cement clinkers and Portland cement.

According to Ilyashev & Partners, “this decision will contribute to fair competition in the cement market of Ukraine, facilitate an increase in sales and production of local goods, foster job creation, and encourage future investments.”

Kinstellar has advised the Investment Fund for Developing Countries, an agency of the Government of Denmark, in connection with a secured EUR 5.75 million loan facility to the Kness Group, a Ukrainian engineering, procurement, and construction group of companies. During the transaction, Kness relied on their in-house team.

According to Kinstellar, IFU’s loan facility will support the development, construction, and operation of three solar plants by the Kness Group. The three plants, which will be located in the Vinnitsa region of Ukraine, will have a total capacity of 33.9 MW, and are expected to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions by approximately 37,500 tons per year.

The IFU’s loan comes on top of an earlier up to EUR 25.9 million financing Kness obtained in the form of a senior EBRD 10-year loan of up to 18.5 million and a 10-year loan from the Clean Technology Fund of up to EUR 7.4 million.

Kinstellar’s team included Partner Olena Kuchynska, Counsels Andriy Nikiforov and Oleg  Matiusha, and Associates Viktoria Pysmenna, Oleh Andreikiv, Yuliya Eismont, and Oleksandr Plachynta. 

Eterna Law has advised the Modus Group on its investment in the construction of a solar station in Zhytomyr region of Ukraine.

The Modus Group plans to invest EUR 30 million in the construction of a new solar park with a capacity of 35 megawatts. According to Eterna, the project “will be implemented by Green Genius and Modus Energy International, which are members of the Modus group. The construction of a new solar power plant is scheduled for the second half of 2019. The project will be implemented in the territory of the Lubarskaya town community. The park will generate about 45 gigawatt-hour of electricity per year and will become the largest solar power station in the region.”

According to Eterna, the Modus group “unites companies operating in the real estate, energy, and auto-trading markets,” and the firm reports that “the group has already implemented renewable energy projects in Lithuania and Belarus, and now works in this industry in Spain and Poland.”

The Eterna Law team was led by Partner Maksym Uslystyi and included Associate Mykhailo Lytvyn.

DLA Piper has advised Atlantic Agro Holdings and DUI Holding on the sale of Kyiv Atlantic Group to Agrolife and Eridon. Integrites acted as lead legal counsel to one of the sellers.

The Kyiv Atlantic Group is a grain, oil seed, and vegetable protein processing agro-holding consisting of Kyiv Atlantic Ukraine, Atlantic Farms, and Atlantic Farms II. The Kyiv Atlantic Group was equally owned by Atlantic Agro Holdings, which belongs to the Sweere Family, and Danish company DUI Holding.

Kyiv Atlantic Ukraine has been operating in Ukraine for 28 years. Its 40-acre fenced area includes a grain elevator, a soybean expeller plant, and a modern feed mill. The company was acquired by Agrolife, a German supplier of oilseed, cereals and feed additives, and the two production farming companies.

Atlantic Farms, based in Kyiv region, leases about 3,000 acres of arable land, and Atlantic Farms II, based in Cherkasy region, leases 6,500 acres. Both companies were sold to Eridon, an agribusiness company owned by Serhiy Krolovets.

The DLA Piper team in Denmark was led by Partner Karsten Pedersen. The Kyiv team was led by Legal Director Anastasiya Bolkhovitinova. 

The Integrites team was led by Managing Partner Oleksiy Feliv. The team also included Partner Volodymyr Pavlenko, Counsels Viktoriya Fomenko and Pavlo Loginov, Senior Associate Anton Babak, Associates Konstantin Kharchenko, Olena Savchuk, Andrii Lasikov, and Anastasiia Nesterenko. 

Integrites did not reply to our inquiry about the deal. 

Editor’s Note: After this article was published Pavlenko Legal Group informed CEE Legal Matters that the firm advised both the Eridon group of companies and Agrolife on their acquisition of Atlantic Farms and Atlantic Farms II. Ukrainian law firm Engarde also advised Agrolife on the acquisition of Kyiv Atlantic Ukraine. The Pavlenko Legal Group team was led by Partner Denis Maistrenko and included lawyers Darya Stadnik and Veronika Shyrman. 

ANK Law has advised Delta-Wilmar CIS on its agreement to cooperate with the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration on the construction of a soybean recycling plant and a new terminal for the accumulation and storage of grain cargo and protein meal at the port of Yuzhny.

On June 1, 2018, the “cooperation memorandum” was signed in the presence of the President of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure.

Delta-Wilmar CIS has operated in the food industry since 2004, producing oil-and-fat products and ingredients for bakery, confectionery, and dairy product manufacturers.

The ANK Law team was led by Managing Partner Alexander Kifak and Head of Investment Projects Legal Support Practice Dmitrii Kolodiazhnyi. 

Vasil Kisil & Partners has successfully represented Rost Agro, one of the largest seed producers and exporters in Ukraine, in a tax dispute.

According to VKP, “in May 2017, taxation bodies imposed more than UAH 63 million of penalties on the companany for alleged failure to observe the time limits of payments in foreign economic activities. The company applied to court seeking the cancellation of the penalties and claiming that they were imposed in violation of international law. Attorneys of Vasil Kisil & Partners defended the company’s position, so that, having heard the case, the court resolved to sustain in full the claims raised by Rost Agro LLC. This case will have far-reaching consequences on the domestic business community since the problem of penalties imposed for failing to observe the time limits of settlements under foreign economic agreements is relevant to many domestic exporters.”

The Vasil Kisil & Partners team consisted of Managing Partner Andriy Stelmashchuk, Senior Associate Tetiana Berezhna, and Associates Viktor Hrabovskyi and Maksym Maksymov.

The International Trade Law Practice team of Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm is advising the Ukrainian Association of Producers of Ferroalloys and other Electrometallurgy Products and Ukrainian producers of ferrosilicomanganese during a five-year review of anti-dumping duties – a so-called sunset review – on imports of ferrosilicomanganese from Ukraine and the People’s Republic of China.

The Ukrainian Association of Producers of Ferroalloys and other Electrometallurgy Products was founded in 1997. The Association includes the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, the Zaporizhzhia Ferroalloy Plant, the Kramatorsk Ferroalloy Plant, Marganets and Pokrovsky Ore Mining and Processing Enterprises, the Pobuzke Ferronickel Plant, and the “Ukrainian Scientific and Technological Center ‘Energostal’ State Enterprise.

“Currently we are actively involved in the process of this review at the U.S. International Trade Commission, proving that there is no injury to US producers from the supply of ferrosilicomanganese from Ukraine,” said Olena Omelchenko, the Head of International Trade Law Practice at Ilyashev & Partners. “We provided all necessary information to prove that the potential supplies inflict no injury to American industry, and we are now preparing for hearings in the Commission in September.”

According to an Ilyashev & Partners press release, “within the framework of this review the Commission will decide not only on the Ukrainian import of goods, but will also consider the Chinese one. At the same time, the recent trends in the import duty increases on steel and aluminum imported to the US, as well as on a range of goods from China, raise concerns and entail certain risks of prolongation of anti-dumping duties against the backdrop of a general protectionism in the international trade. To this end, we are actively cooperating with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine in order to protect Ukrainian companies in foreign markets.”

Also according to Ilyashev & Partners, “it should be reminded that the anti-dumping duty of 163% on imports of Ukrainian ferrosilicomanganese was imposed by the United States in 1994 and has been prolonged every 5 years ever since.”