Category: Ukraine

Asters’ Counsel Oleksiy Demyanenko has become a member of the aviation advisory board at the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.

The board was created and is designed to facilitate reforms in Ukraine’s aviation industry. According to Asters, “Demyanenko regularly handles high profile aviation mandates, advised the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine on implementation of the Cape Town Convention and preparation of the regulations on IDERA and authorization codes, contributed to the debut edition of the International Comparative Legal Guide to Aviation Law and the Practitioners’ Guide to the Cape Town Convention prepared by the Aviation Working Group, and acted as a local expert for the Cape Town Academic Project, a joint undertaking of Oxford University and the University of Washington.”

Sayenko Kharenko has acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to Capiton in connection with its acquisition of a Ukrainian subsidiary of the Finnish Dynea-Group. The deal was closed on February 17, 2014.

Based in Germany, Capiton is an owner-managed financial investor that invests in large SMEs primarily in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland by means of MBOs and expansion financing. The Finnish chemical group Dynea is a leader in the European market of industrial adhesive systems with subsidiaries in Germany, Finland, UK, Poland, France, Romania, Austria, and Ukraine. The group specializes in the production of formaldehyde-based adhesives, which are used in the automotive and engineering industries, as well as paper overlays and oil field chemicals. Dynea employs 300 full time employees and has annual sales of approximately EUR 220 million. The company is headquartered in Helsinki.

Sayenko Kharenko’s scope of work on behalf of Capiton included due diligence of the Ukrainian subsidiary of Dynea-Group and transaction support on the Ukrainian part of the deal.

The firm’s team was led by Partner Vladmir Sayenko, and included Counsel Leonid Antonenko and Associates Oleksandr Bevz and Kateryna Zhebanova.

Vasil Kisil & Partners has acted as sole legal advisor to the European Commission on its granting of EUR 610 million macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

In April 2013, the Memorandum of Understanding and the Loan Agreement were entered into by Ukraine, as a borrower, the National Bank of Ukraine, as an agent to the borrower, and the European Union, as a lender regarding the loan in the aggregate amount of EUR 610 million. The documents were ratified by the Ukrainian Parliament on March 4, 2014. The first installment of the macro-financial assistance was transferred to the state of Ukraine on May 20th. The outstanding amount of the loan is expected to be granted during the course of this year.

Vasil Kisil & Partners advised the European Commission on Ukrainian law and international law matters related to the transaction. A statement released by the firm asserted that the firm’s lawyers, “were actively involved in drafting of the transaction documents, controlled fulfillment of conditions precedent to completion of the transaction and issued a legal opinion in favor of the lender.”

“We are proud to be part of the initiative of providing Macro-Financial Assistance aimed to help Ukraine successfully meet its major economic challenges and stabilize its economy. We appreciate a significant support already provided to Ukraine and full commitment of the European Union to help our country in the future”, commented Yulia Kyrpa, Partner and Head of Banking & Finance at Vasil Kisil & Partners.

The VKP team was led by Kyrpa and Partner Denis Lysenko and included Banking and Finance Practice Group Associates Denys Kulgavyi and Olena Nikolenko.

Asters has announced that IP lawyer Julia Semeniy is joining the Ukrainian firm as a Partner as of May 19, 2014.

Semeniy specializes in Intellectual Property law, including protection against unfair competition, media-law, and IP-related dispute resolution.

Semeniy joins from competitor Konnov & Sozanovsky, where she was also a Partner. According to Asters, Semeniy has “represented the largest foreign and Ukrainian companies on the implementation of complex projects in the area of IT, brand protection and anti-cybersquatting, licensing and legal protection of intellectual property in the field of media and entertainment, TV and film production, automotive production, beverages and food production.”

Asters Managing Partner Oleksiy Didkovskiy said of the addition that: “We are delighted to welcome Julia as a new partner and we are proud that now our intellectual property practice will be enhanced by so knowledgeable and respected expert. I believe that thanks to Julia Asters will strengthen its leading position in the market.”

Astapov Lawyers has announced that Partner Natalia Meshcheriakova, the Head of the firm’s Intellectual Property Department, has been elected as a Head of Intellectual Property and Advertising Law Committee at the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) for the third time in a row.

Astapov describes Meshcheriakova as “a court-accredited intellectual property expert with the right to conduct examinations of literary and artistic works, industrial designs, commercial (brand) names, trademarks and geographical indications, commercial names, know-how, and domain names.”

Meshcheriakova was generous in her acceptance. “I thank my colleagues at the UBA for their kind support and appreciation of my contribution to the organization of the committee’s activities. I would like to assure all UBA members and legal market players that I will do my best further effective dialog on topical issues in the intellectual property sphere.” 

Earlier this week CEE Legal Matters reported that Arzinger Senior Associate Stanislav Gerasymenko was elected Chairman of the UBA’s Real Estate and Construction Committee. 

Arzinger Senior Associate Volodymyr Yaremko served as coach for the claimant’s team at the II Arbitration School organized by the Ukrainian Arbitration Association and UBA’s Students League for Ukrainian and foreign students and young lawyers.

The 5-day program, which took place in Kiev on May 7-11, 2014, included a simulation of an arbitration process under UNCITRAL rules, during which the participants were asked to work on the claimant’s or defendant’s team and prepare a request for arbitration, the reply to the request, the statement of claim, and the statement of defense – then participate in oral hearings.

Yaremko specializes in complex cross-border cases and dispute resolution at international commercial and investment arbitration centers. He also has experience serving as arbitrator and coach by different litigation/arbitration moot courts; he also coached the team of the Lviv Franco National University for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna.

Arzinger has announced that Senior Associate Stanislav Gerasymenko has been unanimously elected Chairman of the Real Estate and Construction Committee of the Ukrainian Bar Association.

According to a statement released by the firm, Gerasymenko “sees the main purpose of the Committee’s work as creating a convenient platform for real estate and construction professionals to exchange their views and experiences as well as for all those interested in the problems and prospects of the industry.” In addition, according to the firm’s statement, he “notes that a rule-of-law state (which is the most urgent task for every lawyer, regardless of his or her political preferences) can be established only by combining the efforts to refine and harmonize the existing legal framework, to institute appropriate safeguards for protecting the rights of investors and investments as well as to improve the legal culture of experts and market participants, which is also important for restoring Ukraine’s positive image worldwide. After all, investment in real estate (industrial, commercial or residential) is one of the most objective indicators of any country’s investment attractiveness.”

The Acting President of the Ukrainian Bar Association is Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners Ukrainian Partner Oleksii Reznikov, who was appointed on April 11, 2014.  

Integrites has acted as legal advisor to Olam Ukraine, a subsidiary of Olam International, a leading agri-business supplying products to over 13,600 customers worldwide.

The company claims to have 23,000 employees world-wide, and to have “built a leadership position in many businesses including cocoa, coffee, cashew, rice and cotton.”

Integrites’ lawyers advised the company on legal regulations and other aspects of grain trading activity, including the legal aspects of currency issues, risks hedging, and warehouse activity. The firm claims that “our advice allowed the company to duly protect its rights in relations with counter-parties in the Ukrainian grain market.” 

Asters has advised on Ukrainian law matters relating to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Eustream and Ukrtransgaz on a potential solution to the transmission of gas from Slovakia to Ukraine.  

Tomas Marecek, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eustream, promised that the Slovak transmission system operator would do the maximum to facilitate the transmission of gas to Ukraine with the maximum possible volume enabled by the Vojany-Uzhorod gas pipeline, starting from the beginning of October this year. Marecek explained that “top representatives of the European Commission requested us to shorten the terms for technical preparations for launching the Vojany pipeline and to increase the capacity to a maximum. We promised that we would do everything in this respect within our technical possibilities and transmission regulations to ensure that in accelerated mode we will attain a volume of 8-9 billion cubic meters of gas a year.”

Gunther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Energy, who attended the signing ceremony, explained the significance of the deal. “It is important that Ukraine makes speedy progress in unifying its legal and regulatory framework with the energy legislation of the EU. This increases the trust of investors and helps the country modernize its energy sector.”

Asters Senior Partner Armen Khachaturyan, who led the firm’s working team on the project, was proud of Asters’ role in the deal. “Cooperation between Slovakia and Ukraine on the reverse gas supply to Ukraine is extremely important for Ukraine under the current complex political and economic circumstances and we take it as a great honor to assist on this matter.”  Khachaturyan was assisted by Senior Associate Yaroslav Petrov.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners Ukraine has advised Dynea Chemicals in the sale of 100% of the shares of its Ukrainian subsidiary Dynea Ukraine to the German Mellifera Zehnte Beteiligungsgesellschaft. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

The disposal of Dynea’s Ukrainian operations was part of a larger multi-jurisdictional transaction. Roschier acted as global lead counsel for Dynea.

EPAP Ukraine provided full transactional support in Ukraine, including general advice on Ukrainian corporate law matters, including the development and negotiation of all local transactional documents, and assistance with closing.

Dynea is one of the world’s leading providers of adhesives and surface solutions The company has 13 production plants in 11 European countries, with some 620 employees. Dynea is headquartered in Helsinki.

EPAP’s team for the transaction was led by Partner Oksana Ilchenko, with assistance by Counsel Oleg Boichuk, Associate Yuriy Volovnik, and Junior Associate Nadiia Dmytrenko.