Category: Ukraine

  • Dentons Advises Join UP! on Corporate Restructuring

    Dentons Advises Join UP! on Corporate Restructuring

    Dentons has acted as Ukrainian and Dutch legal counsel to the Join UP! group of companies, one of the largest Ukrainian tour operators, in connection with its corporate restructuring.

    In particular, Dentons’ lawyers provided legal support on various corporate, tax, intellectual property, finance, and investment issues. The firm’s Kyiv team was led by Partner Natalia Selyakova with input from Associates Nadiya Shylienkova and Borys Schwarzer. Partner Jan-Mathijs Hermans and Associate Gordon Tichelaar from Dentons’ Amsterdam office provided legal support on Dutch law.

  • Asters Advises EBRD on Loan to Novus

    Asters Advises EBRD on Loan to Novus

    Asters has advised the EBRD on its up to USD 25 million financing to Ukraine’s Novus, retail chain, which is owned by Lithuanian shareholders.

    According to Asters, “the seven-year loan will be used to finance the expansion of Novus, which is aiming to open a new logistics center and ten new stores in Kyiv and the Kyiv region by the end of 2018. The project will also introduce energy and resource-efficiency improvements as well as climate-change mitigation and adaptation measures, in line with the EBRD’s Green Economy Transition approach.”

    Also, according to Asters, the financing “is provided within the framework of the long-term EBRD and Novus partnership, on which matters Asters has been advising EBRD starting from 2013.”

    The Asters team consisted of Partner Iryna Pokanay, Counsel Gabriel Aslanian, and Associates Inna Bondarenko and Oleksandr Khomenko.

    Image Source: retailers.ua

  • Redcliffe Partners Assists Stahl Lux 2 with Merger Clearance in Ukraine

    Redcliffe Partners Assists Stahl Lux 2 with Merger Clearance in Ukraine

    Redcliffe Partners has advised Stahl Lux 2 S.A. on its successful application for merger clearance from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for its acquisition of the leather chemicals business of BASF SE.

    In the underlying acquisition, BASF receives a 16% minority stake in the Stahl Group, and Stahl will take over BASF’s global leather chemicals business – with approximately 210 employees globally – which offers leather chemicals for a broad range of industries such as automotive, apparel & accessories, home interior, and leisure & lifestyle.

    Redcliffe’s team working on merger approval process consisted of Counsel Anastasia Usova and Junior Associate Kateryna Chumak.

  • The Buzz in Ukraine: Interview with Olga Prosyanyuk of Aver Lex

    The Buzz in Ukraine: Interview with Olga Prosyanyuk of Aver Lex

    Unsurprisingly, most of the Buzz reported by Olga Prosyanyuk, the Managing Partner of Aver Lex in Ukraine, relates to trends in her own area of specialization. “As we are a criminal law practice boutique,” she says, “we’re keeping our eyes on all procedures going on in Ukraine in terms of criminal procedure.” 

    According to Prosyanyuk, the political turmoil in the country in recent years has created an inevitable whipsawing effect: “We have our own saying: ‘When new power comes, the previous one automatically becomes unlawful.’ This means that when power changes hands, the new regime immediately begins persecuting the previous members of parliament and state bodies.” As a result, she says, “criminal lawyers in a criminal practice have a lot to do.”

    The current period is no exception, according to Prosyanyuk as “now, before the upcoming presidential elections, prosecutions in this field grow.” According to Prosyanyuk, “every day we have briefings, press conferences, and posts on Facebook and other social media about cases being brought or charges being considered by the prosecutor general or anti-corruption prosecutor. And there will be more. So the huge regime machine has started to work.” She doesn’t mince words about what’s behind this, describing it as “widespread politically-motivated criminal prosecution.”

    And traditional full service firms in Ukraine are trying to get a piece of the action. “Even two years ago there were almost no criminal practices in multi-service firms, but because of these factors, we see the expansion of the practice.” Prosyanyuk doesn’t put much stock in their efforts, however. “These issues are very specific and sensitive, and even when they open these practices, they can afford only non-risky work that usually stops at the pre-trial stage. In transactions, or due diligence exercises, you can be flexible with associates and management. But complicated and political criminal cases can be tough and risky, and you need real experience. If tomorrow a corporate lawyer wanted to become a criminal advocate, that would be very risky for a client. Their freedom is at stake.” Her own firm, Prosyanyuk says, went the other way. “We decided to be a boutique, because we believe boutiques are the future, with specialization in discrete spheres. Maybe it’s not modest, but truthfully, we are the only firm specializing in political prosecution cases. So the trend is that the multi-service firms and the Big Four, in terms of complicated and difficult cases, come to us for help.”

    Prosyanyuk reports that, in addition to the rapid appearance and then general disappearance of criminal practices in full service firms, another significant trend in the legal market for criminal defense lawyers is the increasing need for savvy social media and mass media skills. According to her, “the main fight is not in courts or in state bodies. The main fight is on Facebook and television. Early in the morning the prosecutor general is posting his or her views on facebook on this or that case, or hosting television press conferences. So defense attorneys are required to possess an additional skill: to work with mass media. Because if you fail in your mass media strategy you will fail your clients.” And Prosyanyk doesn’t mince words, describing these new skills as, “if anything, more important than legal skills.” She says that “if you monitor the most significant cases in Ukraine, you will see that they are conducted in mass media. So if an advocate fails in informative strategy, that will damage the client absolutely.”

    The third significant trend Prosyanyuk describes is the increasing use of threats of violence or civil disruption to controversial criminal prosecutions. She describes one recent case in which, while the Pechersk District Court was deciding whether to convict the defendants, “the prosecutor general posted on Facebook that he was very concerned about the risks that if they were released violence would result.” She says, “that was shocking.” She goes on. “For another example, there is another procedure going on involving so-called ‘public activists’ who came to the court and disrupted everything in the court, requiring that the police be called.” Thus, she says, “another trend I can see is that when there is any court case which is very public and sensitive, the so-called ‘activists’ (actually military people with guns and huge numbers) crush everything and pressure the court to take this or that ruling against the people. So another trend is the use of so-called activists. Both those who stand and shout their disagreements — so called ‘peaceful’ activists — but they still come to the court room and disrupt everything there. For what? What is the purpose? And who is controlling them? Who gives them orders to do that?!”

    “I want to be optimistic,” Prosyanyuk says, “but I’m always realistic at the same time. In a week we will have a very public case in court, and I’m really wondering whether this kind of situation will happen to us as well, and when the Maidan cases [the trial of former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, who her firm is defending] will be heard, we are not sure that the activists will not come to disrupt everything. And the current bodies of power want him to be found guilty. They don’t want to find out who really was guilty,” she says. “Or even more, they know who is guilty, and they don’t want the people to know the truth. They don’t want the true court procedure to play itself out. Because the facts will be shocking.”

    Prosyanyuk takes a breath, and smiles. “Maybe I was very emotional, but it’s how I feel.”

  • Baker McKenzie Kyiv Advises Billa-Ukraine on Sale of Three Supermarkets

    Baker McKenzie Kyiv Advises Billa-Ukraine on Sale of Three Supermarkets

    Baker McKenzie’s Kyiv office has advised Billa-Ukraine on the sale of its three supermarkets in Dnipro and Zaporizhia to the Varus retail network.   

    The large Billa-Ukraine supermarket chain — part of REWE Group, which Baker McKenzie describes as “one of Europe’s leading retail and tourism companies” — opened its first supermarket in Ukraine in 2000.   

    The Baker McKenzie Kyiv team was led by Partner Viacheslav Yakymchuk, and included Senior Associate Natalia Tyschenko and Associates Nadiia Filozop and Kseniia Kolontai.

  • Sayenko Kharenko Obtains AMC Clearance for VF Worldwide Holdings and FMC Group FZE Partnership

    Sayenko Kharenko Obtains AMC Clearance for VF Worldwide Holdings and FMC Group FZE Partnership

    Sayenko Kharenko has advised VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd, an outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, on obtaining the approval of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for a partnership arrangement with FMC Group FZE.

    According to Sayenko Kharenko, “the Committee conducted in-depth market research involving the embassies of Ukraine in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and other countries as experts. After examining the proposed partnership arrangement, the AMC has concluded that its implementation poses neither threat to competition nor significantly limits competition on any product market in Ukraine.”

    Sayenko Kharenko’s team was led by Partner Vladimir Sayenko and included Senior Associate Valentyna Hvozd and Associate Anastasiіa Bodnar.

  • Dentons in Consortium Advising on a PPP for Thermal Insulation of Public Buildings in Ukraine

    Dentons in Consortium Advising on a PPP for Thermal Insulation of Public Buildings in Ukraine

    Dentons is announcing that it is part of a consortium awarded a public contract to provide “comprehensive legal, economic, financial, and technical advisory on a project to install extensive thermal insulation in a complex of public buildings in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine.”

    As part of the project, Dentons will provide a feasibility study and preliminary analysis. The consortium was selected by the contracting authority: the Association of Polish Cities.

    According to Dentons, “the contract relates to an ESCO project, which will be funded by the energy savings achieved in the modernized buildings. It will be implemented as a public private partnership.” In addition, the firm reports, “the Bila Tserkva project is part of the Polish-Norwegian Aid for Improving Energy Efficiency in Ukraine project and is a continuation of an earlier program implemented by Poland’s Ministry of Development under the 2016 Polish Aid program. This latest Ukrainian project is headed by the Association of Polish Cities in partnership with the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, the Union of Ukrainian Cities and the Association of Energy-Efficient Cities in Ukraine.”

    Dentons Counsel Tomasz Korczynski, who co-heads the firm’s PPP practice in Warsaw, will be supervising the law firm’s contribution to the consortium’s services.

  • Vasil Kisil & Partners Advises Mellanox Technologies on Establishment of R&D Center in Ukraine

    Vasil Kisil & Partners Advises Mellanox Technologies on Establishment of R&D Center in Ukraine

    Vasil Kisil & Partners has advised Mellanox Technologies, a software developer and supplier of hardware for data centers, on the opening of an R&D center in Kyiv.

    According to Vasil Kisil & Partners, its lawyers “provided advice on corporate issues of doing IT business in Ukraine [and provided] support for engaging Ukrainian personnel for the new R&D center. The VKP lawyers also reviewed service agreements between the company and the IT-specialists for their compliance with Ukrainian law and the best practice.”

    The VKP team included Counsel Volodymyr Igonin, Senior Associate Valeriya Savchuk, and Associate Taisiia Asadchykh.

  • Redcliffe Partners Advises EBRD on Financing for Ukrainian Tomato Paste Producer

    Redcliffe Partners Advises EBRD on Financing for Ukrainian Tomato Paste Producer

    Redcliffe Partners has advised the EBRD on its USD 15 million loan to Ukraine’s Agrofusion group to finance the construction of its third tomato processing plant. This expansion will allow Agrofusion to increase its production capability by around 50 percent. Bird & Bird advised the EBRD on matters of English law.

    According to Redcliffe Partners, “the new plant will be able to produce about 34,000 tonnes of tomato paste. In addition, by using the loan Agrofusion will introduce a range of high-tech farming improvements, reduce water leakage in irrigation systems, and reduce plastic waste throughout its entire production cycle.”

    In addition, the firm reports “this transaction is important for Ukraine, as it is a great incentive in the development of green agribusiness solutions. It aligns with EBRD’s support for green businesses, which is aimed at creating well-functioning market economies. Agrofusion, a vertically integrated and family-owned group, will, through its new processing plant, have an opportunity to meet the growing demand for organic food products within Ukraine, and strengthen its export capacities.”

    Redcliffe’s team advising on this transaction consisted of Managing Partner Olexiy Soshenko, Associate Olesia Mykhailenko, and Junior Associate Anatoliy Doludenko. 

  • Dentons Advises VTB Bank on Restructuring and Acquisition of USD 75 Million Loan

    Dentons Advises VTB Bank on Restructuring and Acquisition of USD 75 Million Loan

    Dentons acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to VTB Bank Germany with regard to the acquisition and subsequent restructuring of a USD 75 million loan to a large Ukrainian development company and security package from VTB Bank Ukraine. Sayenko Kharenko reportedly advised the borrower on the deal.

    The Dentons team provided legal support on the structuring of the transaction and drafting of the transaction documentation, and provided regulatory advice. The firm’s team was led by Kyiv Partner Natalia Selyakova with significant input from London Partner Evgenia Laurson and Associates Nadiia Shylienkova and Artem Lukyanov.