Dentons acted as legal counsel to a syndicate of international banks on a USD 72.5 million loan facility to Alfa Bank Ukraine with one year maturity, to be used for trade finance and general corporate purposes.
The Dentons team was led by Partner Natalya Selyakova in Kiev and Partner Matthew Harvey in London, supported by Kiev Associate Nikolay Zhovner.
Asters has acted as Ukrainian counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) on a secured lending to Concern Galnaftogaz, a major Ukrainian petroleum distributor.
The aggregate financing package arranged by EBRD and IFC (with sub-participations by commercial banks), and BSTDB amounts to USD 180 million.
The financing will be used for modernization and expansion of Galnaftogaz’ petrol filling stations network in the southern and north-eastern parts of Ukraine by up to 60 new petrol filling stations and associated increase in working capital. The financing will help develop and improve the infrastructure for tank storage and liquefied petroleum gas modules, as well as expand the network of quality convenience stores, coffee shops and restaurants.
The team advising on the project consisted of Asters partner Iryna Pokanay and associates Gabriel Aslanian, Yulia Spolitak and Inna Bondarenko. Allen & Overy served as the English law counsel to the lenders.
DLA Piper has advised Europe Virgin Fund (EVF), a private equity fund sponsored by Dragon Capital, in the acquisition of the majority stake in Portmone.com, the leading Ukrainian system of online payments.
The DLA Piper team was led by Illya Muchnyk (legal director) and Margarita Karpenko (managing partner of DLA Piper in Ukraine). Associates Dmytro Pshenychnyuk (Finance & Projects) and Dmytro Tkachenko (Corporate) assisted on the transaction.
Andrey Nosok, managing director of the private equity department at EVF added: “With our investment, we intend to bring a new energy for the further development of the company. The primary focus will be to attract new clients, the design of new services, as well as introducing a more user-friendly system.”
Hogan Lovells has advised MOL Group on its agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Wintershall (UK North Sea) Limited for a base consideration of USD 375 million.
The final value of the transaction is subject to adjustment at closing, subject to the approval of the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and the consent of third party partners related to the ownership interests.
MOL Group is a leading integrated Central & East European oil and gas corporation, listed on both the Budapest Stock Exchange and the Warsaw Stock Exchange, with an extensive international upstream portfolio of oil and gas exploration activities in 12 countries and valuable producing assets in 7 countries.
The Hogan Lovells team advising MOL Group was led by London corporate energy partner Steven Bryan and senior associate Oscar Johnson, supported by associates Alex Browning and Matteo Matteucci, with tax advice from Of Counsel Andy Treavett and senior associate Fiona Bantock.
D&B David and Baias, the Romanian firm associated with PWC, successfully represented Rafinaria Steaua Romana in the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice.
The High Court ordered ANAF (the National Agency for Fiscal Administration in Romania) to pay default interest on late VAT refunds to Rafinaria Steaua Romana. Dan Dascalu, the Partner who lead the D&B team in the case stated: “This final ruling of the High Court is the natural consequence of the judgment pronounced by the European Court of Justice in the case of Rafinaria Steaua Romana vs. ANAF. The historic ruling in this case file created the European case law that will entitle any taxpayer who has received late VAT refunds from the State to request the award of default interest accruing on the respective amounts. At this time we have several case files pending in courts pertaining to similar cases, and we are confident that we will obtain similar results. Nevertheless, for the long term we hope our efforts will lead to an improved VAT refund system in Romania, so that the companies will no longer have to suffer VAT refund delays, and the State be put in position to pay default interest, and so we can also avoid the infringement of the European laws in these matters”
The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes granted Ioan Micula and three of his companies – represented by King & Spalding – a USD 250 million award against the Republic of Romania.
It found that Romania’s early termination of a multi-year incentive program was improper, despite evidence showing that Romania was required to terminate the program prematurely to comply with European Union law.
Although the EU Commission intervened in the case on behalf of Romania, the ICSID rejected the suggestion that a State can rely on its EU obligations to escape liability when it has violated specific legal protections owed to foreign investors. As a result, King & Spalding claims that this award “could have an impact on the evolution of international law.”
King & Spalding international arbitration Partners Eric Schwartz, Reggie Smith, Ken Fleuriet, and Craig Miles worked on the case, along with counsel Ric Toher, senior associate Amy Frey, and associate Jamie Miller.
Ukrainian Vasil Kisil & Partners advised the Epicenter Group as a strategic investor in the acquisition of Nova Linia group of companies.
The project involved a pre-restructuring of group’s companies and the transition of operational control to the buyer in several stages, as well as a complex package of security items and other challenging aspects. In addition, the firm represented Epicenter before the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, following which the Committee issued a merger clearance.
VKP Partner Denis Lysenko provided overall project management and was actively involved in the negotiation process at all stages of the transaction. The project involved a large number of partners and associates in the firm, including particularly Counsellor Ivan Yurchenko and Associates Vasyl Mishchenko and Oleksandr Tereshchenko.
Kinstellar has advised Vinci Concessions and Meridiam Infrastructure as sponsors and Granvia, as issuer, project company and concessionaire, on the EUR 1.24 billion refinancing of the R1 Expressway.
This was one of the largest PPP project bonds ever brought to market, and was the first project bond for a Slovak issuer. The refinancing is expected to save the Slovak government more than EUR 100 million over the life of the project.
Deutsche Bank London Branch acted as sole arranger and global coordinator for the offering, as well as joint book runner alongside Natixis.
The Kinstellar team was led by Partners Patrik Bolf and Adam Hodon and Managing Associate Miroslav Kapinaj. Linklaters acted as international counsel to the sponsors and the issuer, and Allen & Overy advised Deutsche Bank, Natixis and Law Debenture as security agent.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted as legal counsel to Alior Bank in an accelerated bookbuilding (ABB) process on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The transaction, closed on December 12, represents the largest-to-date offering of newly-issued shares in an ABB process in the Polish capital market.
The team was led by Partners Marcin Chylinski and Anna Frankowska in Warsaw and were helped by London-based Partners David Meredith and Peter King on US and UK law matters.
The Siena Group was advised by Popovici Nitu & Asociatii in taking entire control of Iasi City Center, a real estate company set up to develop a major office and logistics project in Iasi, Romania.
Iasi City Center was one of the initial investments by Romanian Real Estate Partners BV, an investment vehicle of US and Spanish investment funds.
The Siena Group’s taking of entire control of Iasi City Center SA was conducted within the reorganization procedures of Romanian Real Estate Partners BV and involved concerted efforts over more than a half-year, in several jurisdictions.
The Popovici team advising the Siena Group was led by Serban Patriciu, Managing Associate, while Romanian Real Estate Partners BV was advised by CMS Amsterdam.