Category: Ukraine

Avellum has advised the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance in connection with a new macro-financial assistance program from the European Union.

According to Avellum, “the MFA negotiated by Ukraine with the EU … is aimed at helping to overcome economic ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic. To that end, the program includes a total of EUR 1.2 billion financing. The funds will be disbursed in two EUR 600 million tranches, the first of which will be granted after the related loan agreement and the memorandum of understanding take formal effect. On 25 August 2020, the Parliament of Ukraine passed the ratification law required to complete effectiveness formalities.”

Avellum’s team was led by Senior Partner Glib Bondar and included Associates Oleg Krainskyi, Mariana Veremchuk, and Mykola Falko.

Sayenko Kharenko has advised J.P. Morgan on the purchase of the USD 329 million Eurobond tap issue by Ukraine. Avellum advised Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance.

According to Sayenko Kharenko, “the proceeds of the transaction were used to settle an open-market repurchase of Ukraine’s GDP-linked securities which was announced earlier in August. As a result, Ukraine successfully completed its first ever liability management exercise involving government derivatives as envisaged by the state debt management strategy.” 

Sayenko Kharenko’s team included Partners Igor Lozenko and Nazar Chernyavsky and Associates Oles Trachuk and Vladyslava Mitsai. 

Avellum team consisted of Partner Glib Bondar and Associates Oleg Krainskyi, Mariana Veremchuk, and Mykola Falko.

Sayenko Kharenko has helped AbbVie Inc. obtain merger clearance from the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine for its global USD 63 billion acquisition of Allergan plc.

AbbVie is a research-based global biopharmaceutical company that is, Sayenkp Kharenko reports, “committed to developing innovative, advanced therapies for some of the world’s most complex and critical conditions.”

Allergan is a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals that operates in more than 100 countries.

Sayenko Kharenko’s team included Partner Valentyna Hvozd, Senior Associate Anastasia Bodnar, and Associate Snizhanna Savka.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Prica & Partners informed CEE Legal Matters that it had acted as Serbian advisor to AbbVie on the deal. The firm’s team was led by Partner Tijana Lalic.

Sayenko Kharenko has advised ADM, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, the Louis Dreyfus Company, and Glencore Agriculture on obtaining clearance from the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine for their establishment of a joint venture.

According to Sayenko Kharenko, “[the goal of the joint venture] is developing an independent digital platform to enable post-trade efficiency for the participants of the agriculture industry. The platform is expected to drive greater security, reliability, efficiency and transparency by digitizing manual, paper‐based processes tied to contracts, invoices, and payments, with a more modern, digitally based approach.”

Sayenko Kharenko’s team included partner Maksym Nazarenko, Senior Associate Anastasia Bodnar, and Associate Snizhanna Savka.

Aequo has advised Raiffeisen Bank International and Creative Dock on the launch of the “Fairo” mobile application.

Aequo describes Fairo as “an all-in-one mobile app for freelancers and small and medium-sized business owners to control their business operations on the go.” According to the firm, “its currently available version provides users with invoicing and bookkeeping functions.”

Aequo’s team consisted of Partner Yulia Kyrpa, Head of IT Mykyta Polataiko, Counsel Bohdan Dmukhovskyi, Of Counsel Denys Kulgavyi, Senior Associate Vasyl Mischenko, Associates Olesia Mashtaler and Anna Potapova, and Patent and Trademark Manager Olga Reznytska.

Sayenko Kharenko has advised the Orexim Group on the sale of Ukraine’s Everi port terminal to Renaisco B.V., a subsidiary of Glencore Agriculture Limited. Baker McKenzie’s Kyiv and London offices reportedly advised the buyers on the deal.

Financial aspects of the deal were not disclosed.

The Orexim Group is engaged in the export of agricultural products, as well as providing port and logistics services. Starting as a small trading company in 2004, Orexim now has over 1,000 employees and has invested more than USD 100 million into its assets.

The Everi port terminal in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, was built in 2010 and last expanded in 2018. It has a static storage capacity of 160,000 metric tons. Its capacity is up to 1.5 million metric tons of vegetable oil per year for export destinations.

Glencore Agriculture Limited deals in the processing and marketing of agricultural commodities and products. It has operations in more than 35 countries and a workforce of over 16,000 employees.

Sayenko Kharenko’s team consisted of Partners Oleksandr Nikolaichyk, Maksym Nazarenko and Svitlana Musienko, Senior Associate Tymur Enkhbaiar, Associates Sviatoslav Kozak, Ilhar Hakhramanov, and Igor Pomaz, and Junior Associates Angelina Danyleiko and Daria Karlenko.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Baker McKenzie informed CEE Legal Matters that it had advised Glencore Agriculture Limited on the deal. The firm’s multi-office team included, in Kyiv, Partner Viacheslav Yakymchuk, Counsel Andrii Moskalyk, Senior Associate Andrii Grebonkin, and Associate Hanna Smyrnova, and in London, Senior Associate Robert Gray.

Integrites has successfully protected the interests of Lifelong Meditech, an Indian producer and exporter of medical equipment, in a safeguard investigation initiated by the Ukrainian producer Hemoplast concerning the import of syringes in Ukraine.

According to Integrites, no safeguard measures were applied, which “enables Lifelong Meditech to continue operations in the Ukrainian market and preserve its market share. It will also positively influence the competition allowing consumer access to different types of syringes.”

Integrites’ team included Counsels Sergey Lakhno and Yevgen Ivanets and Paralegal Ivan Yefimenko.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published Asters announced that it had successfully represented the Association of Market Operators of Medical Devices and “several Ukrainian importers” during the investigation. The firm’s team was led by Alexey Pustovit and included Associates Tetiana Bebik and Yelyzaveta Herasymchuk.

Avellum and White & Case have advised Argus Media Ltd on its acquisition of Agritel International, which provides information, consulting, and forecasting on agricultural and agro-industrial markets.

Argus Media Ltd is a London-based commodity information service provider.

Avellum’s team included Managing Partner Mykola Stetsenko and Associates Maryna Buinytska, Bogdana Parkhomchuk, and Khrystyna Bayurchak.

Avellum could not provide additional information on the deal.

On 13 August 2020, the majority of provisions of Law of Ukraine “On State Regulation of Activities on Organising and Conducting Gambling Games” No. 768-IX (the “Law”) entered into force. The Law introduces regulation of the gambling market and sets requirements for its participants.

Permitted activities

The Law allows to organise and conduct:

• gambling games in casinos;
• gambling games in online casinos;
• offline and online betting;
• gambling at slot machine halls; and
• online poker gambling games.

Requirements for a gambling operator

A gambling operator has to be a Ukrainian resident legal entity that:

• has the charter capital made of documented cash contributions in the amount of at least UAH30,000,000;
• has obtained a respective gambling license to organise and conduct gambling games;
• whose UBOs, owners of a significant shareholding, shareholders, executive manager and chief accountant have high business reputation and are not citizens or residents of an occupier state and/or an aggressor state;
• whose corporate shareholders are not registered in any of the FATF blacklist states;
• has executed a security bank deposit agreement or a bank guarantee to secure payments for the winners in the amount of 7,200 minimum wages set as of 1 January of the respective year (as of today, approximately EUR1,060,000); and
• uses certified gambling equipment connected to the State Online Monitoring System.

The Law provides for separate requirements to be met by various types of gambling activities with respect to:

• venues for gambling, g. casinos may only be located in certain categories of hotels, suburban recreation complexes that meet certain requirements and in special gambling areas that may be established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine;
• minimum area of the gambling premises; and
• minimum number of employees of a gambling operator, etc.

The regulatory authority

The Law also provides for the establishment of the Gambling Games and Lottery Commission (the “Commission”). The Commission will have broad authorities to adopt licensing conditions, issue and revoke licenses, and oversee the gambling market.

We expect that the Law will promote the revival of the gambling business in Ukraine.

By Maryna Buinytska, Associate, and Oles Bidnoshyia, Associate, Avellum

On August 26, 2020, Sokolovsky & Partners Managing Partner Vladyslav Sokolovsky was elected to the Public Council of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.

According to Sokolovsky & Partners, “the Public Council under the Ministry of Energy is an advisory body designed to ensure that public opinion is taken into account in the process of preparing and organizing the implementation of the Ministry’s decisions.”

In addition, according to the firm, Sokolovsky “was delegated to this body by the Solar Energy Association of Ukraine, which unites the main players in the solar energy market. Sokolovsky & Partners … is one of the founders of the association, and Vladislav Sokolovsky has been a member of the Board of the Solar Energy Association since 2018.”