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Asters has acted as legal counsel to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in connection with committed and anticipated facilities of up to USD 35 million to Astarta — one of the largest agricultural producers in Ukraine.

Astarta is a leading primary agriculture producer in Ukraine with 245,000 hectares of land under cultivation. The company’s principal activities include production of sugar beet and white sugar, production of other crops including wheat, barley, corn, sunflower, and soya, soybean processing, and cattle farming. The company owns and operates 9 sugar plants, soybean processing plant, bioenergy complex, and chain of grain silos and supporting infrastructure facilities in 4 regions in Ukraine.

The IFC will provide corporate financing to Astarta in the form a working capital loan, which will allow Astarta to procure soybeans at the time of harvest for further processing at its soy crushing facility. Astarta will then process this soybean inventory into soy meal, soy oil, and husk, thus creating higher value-added products.

“IFC’s financing will support one of the leading agriculture producers in Ukraine, assisting a viable economic activity and securing jobs in rural regions of our country,” said Asters Partner Iryna Pokanay. We are happy to be a part of the project aimed at the further strengthening of the economic development of Ukraine.”

Pokanay led the firm’s team on the deal, working with Counsel Gabriel Aslanian and Associate Inna Bondarenko.

Asters did not reply to inquiries about counsel for Astarta.

Goltsblat BLP is acting for Ilya Naishuller, director, scriptwriter, and producer of the science-fiction film Hardcore, in relation to a transaction contemplating the sale of rights to the movie to STX Entertainment, a US-based global media company.

Goltsblat BLP describes the transaction as “one of the largest international transactions for the Russian film industry.” The agreement for the sale of rights was achieved between STX and the agent of Timur Bekmambetov and Ilya Naishuller — the main producers of the movie — after the September 2015 Toronto Film Festival, where the film won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. 

The Goltsblat BLP team was led by Goltsblat BLP Managing Partner Andrey Goltsblat and included Head of Group Anton Panchenkov and Senior Associates Yana Pylaeva and Anna Zelenskaya.

Goltsblat BLP did not respond to inquiries regarding the firms representing STX Entertainment or Bekmambetov on the deal.

Cobalt Estonia has advised Rakuten, a major Japanese e-commerce and Internet company — in a 7.4 million EUR investment into Lingvist, an Estonian origin start-up developing an innovative language learning technology.

According to Cobalt, “Lingvist technology approaches language learning with a unique mathematical methodology enabling users of all ages and levels to learn a new language on B2 level in approximately 200 hours. Currently the tool offers opportunity to learn English and French, soon the selection will be complemented by Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and Swedish. Lingvist is selected into the world’s leading acceleration program for technology enterprises TechStars.”

Cobalt’s team was led by Partner Martin Simovart, supported by Senior Associate Kristjan Kotkas.

JPM has advised the French company Atalian, a large European facility management company, on legal due diligence related to its intended takeover of Mopex, a leading Serbian facility management company.  

JPM Partner Nikola Djordjevic led the due diligence — one of the preconditions for the acquisition decision.

Cobalt has advised Export Development Canada in the sale and transfer of loans and collateral established to secure the transferred loans, originally made to EA Jet Leasing Ltd., to Osauhing Transpordi Varahaldus.

The transferred loans were granted by Export Development Canada in 2011 to EA Jet Leasing Ltd, to finance the acquisition of three Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen aircraft. The aircraft financed under the transferred loans were leased to and operated by Estonian Air.

Export Development Canada is a Canadian state-owned export credit agency, established to provide Canadian exporters with financing, insurance, and bonding services, as well as foreign market expertise. Osauhing Transpordi Varahaldus is a newly-established Estonian state-owned holding company, for which the acquisition of loans from Export Development Canada was the first investment.

As local counsel, Cobalt assisted Export Development Canada in the review, preparation, and execution of the transaction documents and in carrying out the registration procedures required in Estonia, in connection with the transfer of the collateral.

The firm’s team consisted of Partner Marina Tolmatshova and Associate Mattias Tammeaid.

Russia’s YUST law firm has successfully represented the interests of Bayer AG in the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia (CCI) in its dispute with Trehgornaya Manufaktura OJSC.

The dispute concerned the validity of a lease agreement on a building on Bolshoy Trehgorny Lane in Moscow, which was entered into by Bayer in 1996 for 49 years. The agreement was in force and adhered to by the parties until late 2013, when — according to YUST — “Trehgornaya Manufaktura OJSC unilaterally refused to perform and banned the lessees’ access to the building.”

The proceedings in the ICCA under the CCI of Russia concluded with a final award made on October 26 of 2015, in an opinion covering some 670 pages. According to YUST, “the claim of Bayer AG was fully upheld; the counterclaim of Trehgornaya Manufaktura OJSC was dismissed; the lease agreement was ruled valid; and the refusal of Trehgornaya Manufaktura OJSC to perform under it [was held] invalid.”

On November 12, Immofinanz announced the signing of a contract with Blackstone for the sale of Immofinanz’s entire logistics portfolio, covering 36 properties in Germany, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, and Russia, as well as several development projects. Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft provided assistance to Immofinanz on the deal and coordinated several CEE law firms on related local law matters.

The Luther team consisted of Partners Detlev Stoecker, Carsten Brutschke, and Ulrich Siegemund, Senior Associate Tilo Künstler, and Associate Lucia Henrich.

As reported earlier, Popovici Nitu Stoica & Asociatii advised Immofinanz on Romanian matters, with DLA Piper Bucharest offering the same assistance to Blackstone. The PNSA team was coordinated by Partner Valentin Creata and Managing Associate Ioana Sampek. The DLA Piper team was led by Partner Alin Buftea, supported by Senior Associate Florin Tineghe.

In Hungary, Fest & Partner advised Immofinanz but declined to offer further details or identify the firm advising the buyer. 

In Russia, the Pepeliaev Group team assisting Immofinanz was led by Partner Ilya Bolotnov. The firm did not respond to our request to identify Blackstone’s advisor in that market. 

In Poland, Partner Katarzyna Domanska-Moldawa led the BSJP law firm team advising the seller. The firm also did not respond to inquiries about Blackstone’s adviser in that market.

According to Luther, Giese & Partner advised on Czech and Slovak matters. The firm did not respond to requests for confirmation and details. 

Tax assistance in Poland was provided by Crido Taxand.

Raidla Ellex has advised the East Capital Baltic Property Fund AB in the sale of the Nurmenuku shopping center property to Adfectio Capital for EUR 6,525,000. The Rask law firm advised Adfectio Capital on the deal.

Raidla Ellex reports that, “as the legal advisor of East Capital [it] consulted the client in all phases of the transaction including setting up the dataroom, drafting of the Property Purchase Agreement and other transaction related documents.”

East Capital Group is an emerging and frontier market asset manager. The independent partnership was set up in 1997, and manages approximately EUR 2.1 billion in public and private equity funds as well as separate accounts for a broad international client base.

The Raidla Ellex team was led by Counsel Martin Kaerdi.

The Rask team consisted of Managing Partner Ramon Rask and lawyers Marina Lapidus and Karl Erik Esko.

Image Source: Sorbis / Shutterstock.com

Slaughter and May has advised Eesti Energia Aktsiaselts on its recent intermediated tender offer and issue of EUR 500 million 2.384% notes due September 2023. Raidla Ellex advised Eesti Energia on matters of Estonian law. The new note issue represents the first ever benchmark Eurobond transaction for Eesti Energia.

The tender offer was made by Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch for Eesti Energia’s EUR 400 million 4.250% notes due 2018 and EUR 300 million 4.5% notes due 2020.

The joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the new note issue and dealer managers for the tender offer were Barclays Bank Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch and Nordea Bank Danmark AS. Swedbank AB (publ) was a co-manager for the new note issue.

The Slaughter & May team was led by Partner Philip Snell, supported by Associate Chris Parrott and Trainee Solicitor Jack Dickie.

The Raidla Ellex team consisted of Partner Raino Paron and Counsel Triin Frosch.

Herbst Kinsky has advised Heliovis AG throughout its Series C financing round with what the firm calls “prominent foreign investors.”

Heliovis is a young technology company in Wiener Neudorf, Lower Austria that focuses on renewable energy. The company is developing a new sunlight concentrator for large solar power plants, which consists mostly of plastics. This enables a cost reduction of up to 55% for solar fields in comparison to modern glass mirror technologies. According to Herbst Kinsky, “recently the company received a significant public funding for a demonstration plant in Spain in the highly competitive EU-programme ‘Horizon 2020’.

“Building a globally orientated technology company is impossible without globally orientated and entrepreneurially thinking attorneys,”  said Felix Tiefenbacher, co-founder and CEO of Heliovis. “We have found both of these qualities in Herbst Kinsky and feel outstandingly advised.”

The transaction was led by Attorney Florian Steinhart and Partner Philipp Kinsky, supported by Attorney David Pachernegg.