Category: Ukraine

ILC Eucon has successfully defended the Vostok LLC international oil trading company in a tax dispute before the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal.

According to ILC Eucon, the Court “canceled tax notice-decisions by the Large Taxpayers’ Office of the State Fiscal Service on additional monetary excise tax liabilities towards Vostok LLC in the total amount of UAH 5.8 million.”

The lawyers of ILC EUCON convinced the court that “the sale of fuel to consumers using coupons and fuel cards issued by a third party at a discount is not an operation aimed at understating tax liabilities.”

The firm’s team was led by Managing Partner and Head of Tax Yaroslav Romanchuk and included Attorney Volodymyr Bevza,

Gestors has assisted Belarus’s Dobrush Porcelain Factory in Ukraine’s official review of “special safeguard measures” related to the import of cutlery and porcelain dishes to Ukraine. 

According to Gestors, the “special measures were applied and involved the establishment of a special duty of 35.6-28.8% on import of cutlery and porcelain dishes regardless the country of origin in 2014. In 2016 Ukrainian producers initiated a review process of special measures to extend the term of validity. On May 18, 2017, following this review, the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade of Ukraine decided not to extend the term.”

Gestors’ Partner Yaroslav Snigur represented the Dobrush Porcelain Factory before Ukraine’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.

Asters has acted as Ukrainian law counsel to the International Finance Corporation in connection with an up-to-USD 100 million loan to Nibulon, one of the largest Ukrainian grain and oilseeds originators and exporters.

Nibulon is one of the largest Ukrainian grain and oilseeds originators and exporters. The company farms 82,000 hectares of land, operates second largest network of inland silos and river terminals and a modern seaport terminal, located in Mykolaiv, in the Black Sea region of Ukraine. Nibulon mainly exports corn, wheat, and barley to more than 20 global destinations.

IFC will provide up to USD 60 million for its own account in debt financing, and mobilize approximately USD 40 million in debt from other lenders. The financing will be used to modernize and expand Nibulon’s port transshipment terminals and to refinance its short-term debt.

Asters’s team consisted of Partner Iryna Pokanay, Counsel Gabriel Aslanian, and Associate Inna Bondarenko.

Sayenko Kharenko represents Volzhsky Abrasive Works and the Alexandr Trading in an anti-dumping investigation.

Sayenko Kharenko’s international trade team has successfully represented OJSC Volzhsky Abrasive Works and LLC Trading House Alexandr in an anti-dumping investigation related to imports into Ukraine of abrasives originating in the Russian Federation.

According to Sayenko Kharenko, the investigation led to “anti-dumping measures … [of] 6.54%” were imposed on OJSC Volzhsky Abrasive Works, “whereas to other exporters anti-dumping measures reached 33.83 percent.”

Sayenko Kharenko’s team was led by Partner Tatyana Slipachuk and included Counsel Anzhela Makhinova and Associates Victoria Mykuliak and Ivan Baranenko.

Avellum has advised its longstanding client Kernel Holding S.A. on the acquisition of 100% of shares in a large-scale farming business that manages over 190,000 hectares of leasehold farmland and approximately 200,000 tons of grain storage capacity. The value of the deal was USD 155 million. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine approved the acquisition in May 2017.

Kernel is the largest Ukraine-based diversified agribusiness company in the Black Sea region with a share listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It is also a leading exporter of, among other products, sunflower oil and grains.

Earlier this year Avellum advised Kernel on its debut USD 500 million eurobond issue, which was the first successful corporate eurobond offering from Ukraine since 2013. (As reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 3, 2017). 

The Avellum team that advised Kernel on this transaction was led by Counsel Yuriy Nechayev, with significant support from Associates Andriy Romanchuk and Andriy Gumenchuk, all working under the general supervision of Managing Partner Mykola Stetsenko.

On June 2, 2017, Andriy Stelmashchuk, the Managing Partner of Vasil Kisil & Partners, and Vladimir Sayenko, the Managing Partner of Sayenko Kharenko, were elected President and Vice President of the Ukrainian Bar Association, respectively, for two-year terms.

“During fifteen years of the development, the Association has made its way from a place where like-minded legal professionals gathered for discussions to become an active member of the civil society, whose voice now sounds louder,” commented Andriy Stelmashchuk. “Though we may not say that the Association is absolutely solid, however, we have more points of contact than stumbling stones. I am convinced we will continue growing and developing as a community, since we are united, among other things, by the values we declare and implement into life. We have lots of work to do and I believe we will pass this way with dignity. As a result, we will become stronger and have less controversies among us,”

The Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) has been operating in Ukraine since 2002. The purpose of the UBA, according to a statement released by Vasil Kisil & Partners, “is to facilitate the implementation of the rule of law and development of the legal state and legal profession.”

Sayenko, who has been a Board Member of the UBA since its establishment in 2002, has been International Relations Officer for the past two years.

SDM Partners and Aronovych and Partners have merged in Ukraine.

According to a statement on the SDM Partners website, “while SDM Partners has gained a reputation as one of the leading Ukrainian law firms, successfully supporting its Ukrainian and international clients for over nine years in all areas of law, Aronovych and Partners is one of the first law offices of independent Ukraine, which started its activity in 1993 and has successfully been providing professional legal services to both legal entities and individuals for more than 24 years.”

According to SDM Partners Managing Partner Dmytro Syrota, “first of all, the merger will strengthen the law practice of SDM Partners in the field of civil and family cases and criminal law, headed by Felix Aronovych — the founder of Aronovych and Partners and the new Partner of SDM Partners.

Felix Aronovych commented that “using the great experience of Aronovych and Partners and the high international standards of SDM Partners, our team will be able to provide services to clients in the following areas, such as: civil, family law and especially, criminal law, which is so current nowadays.”

Integrites has announced that former Dentons lawyer Victoria Fomenko has joined its team to become Integrites’ new Head of Tax & Customs practice.

According to Integrites, “Victoria’s team will consult clients on tax and customs issues, tax risks assessment and development of mechanisms for their minimization, handling of tax disputes in administrative courts of any jurisdiction, including representation of, as well as escorting clients during inspections by tax and customs authorities. The scope of the team’s activities will also cover advising on taxation of foreign economic activities, tax planning of operations and tax structuring of businesses including international jurisdictions, conducting independent audit of the tax accounting procedure, and consulting on individual taxation plans.”

Fomenko has spent the last four years with Dentons (and a year and half before that at Salans, before those two firms merged). Before that she worked for four years at Beiten Burkhardt and two years at PWC. She also spent six years as a Customs Officer in Ukraine.

“Due to the constant change in tax legislation and the tightening of the fiscal approach of the tax authorities, the demand for tax consulting and representation has grown significantly,” said Alexei Felix, the Managing Partner of the Kiev office of Integrites. “The attraction of specialists with such experience is an additional advantage of Integrites.”