Category: Ukraine

Avellum has acted as Ukrainian law counsel to the EBRD in connection with the EUR 1.4 million loan facility to the Khask industrial group.

Khask is a Ukrainian major producer and exporter of self-adhesive tapes and packaging materials. The loan facility will be used to finance the purchase and installation of a solvent recuperation system, related general construction, and energy efficiency capital investments.

The Avellum team supervised by Partner Glib Bondar was led by Senior Associate Taras Dmukhovskyy, with “significant support” from Associates Taras Stadniichuk and Orest Franchuk. 

Eterna Law is announcing a recent success for TPV Compound s.r.l., an Italian producer of polyvinylchloride compounds, in a multiparty debt collection matter before the Ukrainian courts.

According to Eterna Law, “the dispute arose out of a Ukrainian company’s failure to pay for the goods supplied. The matter involved complex issues to be tried in the Ukrainian court, in particular arising out of international private law and conflict of laws matters, issues of Italian law and interpretation of contracts.”

The Eterna Law team was led by Partner Eugene Blinov and Associate Roman Protsyshyn. 

Sayenko Kharenko has acted as legal counsel to Aegon Group, the Dutch life insurance business, on the sale of 100% of the shares in the Aegon Life Ukraine insurance company to the TAS Group. The deal was signed in Kyiv on September 21, 2016 and closed on December 16, 2016 after approval by Ukrainian regulatory authorities.  

According to Sayenko Kharenko, “Aegon, headquartered in The Hague, is one of the world’s leading providers of life insurance, pensions and asset management. The company operates in over 20 countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Aegon companies employ over 29,000 people.”

Sayenko Kharenko reports that it “provided full transactional support, including general advice on corporate law and regulatory matters, deal structuring, development and negotiation of all transactional documents and assistance with completion of the transaction.”

Sayenko Kharenko’s team was led by Counsel Alina Plyushch and included Associates Dmitry Riabikin and Mykhailo Grynyshyn. The project was supervised by Partner Andrey Liakhov.

Ilyashev and Partners has represented PJSC KuibyshevAzot in an anti-dumping investigation related to import of nitrogen fertilizers of Russian origin into Ukraine. 

According to Ilyashev & Partners, “due to the chosen protection tactics, in the framework of an anti-dumping investigation for our client the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) calculated an anti-dumping margin at the level of 0%. According to the review of report, materials, and conclusions on the results of the anti-dumping investigation the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade took a decision number AD-363/2016/4411-05 on the application of anti-dumping duty at the level of 4.19% for 5 years for the PJSC KuibyshevAzot, which is well below the level of anti-dumping duty of 18.78% and 31.84%, calculated for the other Russian exporters.”

The result, according to Ilyashev & Partners “will allow our client to stay competitive in the Ukrainian market, while [allowing] farmers – fertilizer consumers of PJSC KuibyshevAzot – to save the production cost of agricultural products.”

The decision of the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade will enter into force 60 days after December 30, 2016, the day the notice of the commission’s decision was published in the “Uriadovyi Courier” newspaper. 

Baker McKenzie’s Kyiv office has advised Eurobank Ergasias S.A., one of the largest banks in Greece, on the sale of its Ukrainian subsidiary, Universal Bank, to Ukraine’s TAS Group industrial group, which owned by Ukrainian businessman Sergiy Tigipko. 

The Eurobank group is active in eight countries, with total assets of EUR 68.2 billion and 15,935 employees. With a total network of 900 branches in Greece and abroad, the group offers a range of financial products and services to its retail and corporate customers.

TAS GROUP was founded in 1998 and is, according to Baker McKenzie, “one of the biggest and most dynamic financial and industrial groups in Ukraine.” The group has business interests in the financial and industrial sectors, real estate, agriculture, and venture projects. In the financial sector, TAS Group is represented by Tascombank, consumer finance company KreditMarket, life and non-life insurance companies operating under the TAS trademark, and processing center TAS Link.

The Baker McKenzie team was led by Kyiv Partner Ihor Olekhov, with input from Senior Associate Andrii Moskalyk and Associates Bogdan Dyakovych, Stepanyda Badovska, Alyona Furda, and Olena Serpukhovitina.

Commenting on the transaction, Ihor Olekhov said: “We are delighted to have advised Eurobank on this milestone M&A deal for the Ukrainian banking sector. The challenging conditions in the banking market in Ukraine have made this transaction quite sophisticated. We hope this is one of the first signs of recovery in the banking and financial services markets in Ukraine, which for several years have experienced significant downfalls.”

Olena Omelchenko, Head of International Trade Practice at Ilyashev & Partners and Head of the Working Group on International Trade at the American Chamber of Commerce, has been elected by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to perform an expert examination of three draft Ukrainian laws governing the procedure of safeguard, anti-dumping, and anti-subsidy investigations.

According to an Ilyashev & Partners press release, “an expert group of USAID foreign and Ukrainian specialists had earlier developed the following regulatory legal acts with regard to the best international practices”:

• The Law of Ukraine “On Measures of Protection and Import Supervision”
• The Law of Ukraine “On Protection from Dumped Imports”
• The Law of Ukraine “On Protection from Subsidized Imports”

The USAID project, Ilyashev & Partners reports, “is aimed at extending export potential of the private sector and promoting the diversity of Ukrainian export markets.”

Asters and White & Case LLP (UK) have acted as legal counsels to PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian public railway company, in connection with the restructuring of USD 500 million 9.5 per cent loan participation notes due 2018. The reprofiling includes exchanging the 2018 notes for the new USD 500 million 9.875 per cent notes due 2021 and an amending of the loan agreement.

Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) Public Joint Stock Company is a public railway network operator in Ukraine that controls a majority of the railroad transportation in the country with a combined total length of track of over 23,000 kilometers, which makes the it the 14th largest railroad network in the world. According to Asters, “Ukrzaliznytsia is also the world’s 6th largest rail passenger transporter and world’s 7th largest freight transporter.”

Asters advisory role included legal support on Ukrainian law matters, assistance in negotiating and drafting transaction documents, registration of amendments to foreign loans with the National Bank of Ukraine, assistance in obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals, and advising on banking and finance and other Ukrainian law matters.

The Asters team consisted of Senior Partner Armen Khachaturyan and Associates Olena Nikolenko and Oleksandr Khomenko.

Avellum is announcing that it acted as Ukrainian law counsel to the EBRD in connection with a EUR 1.4 million loan facility to the Industrial Group KHASK.

KHASK is a Ukrainian major producer and exporter of self-adhesive tapes and packaging materials. The loan facility will be used to finance the purchase and installation of a solvent recuperation system, related general construction, and energy efficiency capital investments.

The Avellum team was led by Senior Associate Taras Dmukhovskyy, with significant support from Associates Taras Stadniichuk and Orest Franchuk, all working under the supervision of Partner Glib Bondar. 

“The general feeling is that the reforms promised by the new government are proceeding … but slowly,” says Serhiy Piontkovsky, Partner at Baker McKenzie in Kyiv.

From a business point of view the main concern remains corruption, Piontkovksy says, noting a general sense that “the government is still not taking fast and effective steps.” Piontkovsky concedes that “of course at the institutional level there’s been progress, and many new anti-corruption laws and institutions have been created,” and adds “we really hope to see real change come soon in practice.”

Piontkovsky emphasizes that “unfortunately the situation in the Ukrainian economy is not so much driven by empirical economic data, but is more politically-dependent, and we have to pay attention to that as well.” Moreover, he says, “unfortunately the geopolitical situation has a direct effect on business and on the economy of Ukraine. We can not just focus on business and economy and stop paying attention to what’s going on, because that has a direct effect on the exchange rate, for instance, on foreign investment, on privatization … so it’s all quite interconnected.”

Piontkovsky notes that, at least at the moment, business continues apace. “From my point of view we see quite a lot of project finance by international financial institutions like the EBRD, IFC, and so on. For instance if you look at the work we’re doing as a law firm, previously we had more private transactions, and of course we still have more private than public or international donor matters, but the share of legal assignments that is connected to international support by various international financial institutions is very significant, and that’s the difference from two years ago. Also we anticipate generating more work next year on compliance issues in view of recent judicial reform.”

Finally, turning to developments in the legal industry itself, Piontkovsky points to the recent changes to the Constitution limiting the ability to represent clients in various Ukrainian courts only to members of the Ukrainian Bar. Otherwise, he says, there have been no major recent departures or arrivals or firm-closings of significance, and he reports no real lay-offs in the market. “To be more optimistic,” he concludes, “I feel that the legal market has come to a certain level of stability and everyone is waiting for growth.”

Ukraine’s A.G.A. Partners law firm has agreed to provide the Dynamo BC women’s basketball club with assistance “in a wide range of legal issues that arise in the course of its activities.”

According to the firm, “AGA Partners, as a legal partner, will represent the interests of the club, as well as advise on settling disputes.” The firm reports that, “the objectives of this agreement are the support of Ukrainian sport and fruitful cooperation for both parties.”