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The Pepeliaev Group has announced the opening of its office in Sakhalin, the large Russian island in the North Pacific Ocean that is about one fifth the size of Japan.

Attorney Andrey Mikulin — who practices in the areas of administrative, financial, customs, and civil law — has been appointed as the head of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk office, and Moscow-based Partner Pavel Kondukov, who head’s the firm’s Offshore Projects and PSA Group and whose practice includes a number of Sakhalin-based clients, has been appointed the Manager of the Pepeliaev Group’s practice in the Far East (which also encompasses an alliance office in Vladivostok operated in unison with with Russin & Vecchi).

According to the firm, Mikulin has “fifteen years of experience of advising major Russian and foreign companies on various legal issues, including legal support of large-scale projects in the fishing, construction, raw materials and processing industries. Andrey has successfully implemented projects for Sakhalin Energy, Nippon Express, Airgas Sakhalin, Parker Drilling, Independent Energy Company and other companies.” Kondukov “has 13 years of experience in litigation and providing advice to Russian and foreign companies. He specialises in the application of legislation on taxes and levies, subsoil use and production sharing agreements. He has many times been involved in drafting amendments to different items of legislation and has participated as an expert in sessions regarding offshore deposits presided over by the chairman of the Energy Committee of the Russian State Duma.”

The firm describes The Russian Far East — often mistakenly described as Siberia, though in fact that region is further west — as “a region of Russia which is strategically important for the development of the national economy and attracting foreign investments. Mechanisms have been developed at the initiative and under the personal control of the Russian President to improve the investment climate in the region: territories of advanced development have been created, law “On the Free Port of Vladivostok” has been signed and many investment projects are being implemented. Additionally, enormous deposits of raw materials are concentrated in the Far East. All this gives rise to a need for qualified and experienced advisors who can help business to solve the most difficult challenges.”

Pepeliaev Group Managing Partner Sergey Pepeliaev comments: “We have been nurturing the idea of opening our own office in the Far East for a long time, taking into account the enormous business potential of this region. We have had clients and projects there for years, but could not find a permanent representative who would be worthy to become Pepeliaev Group’s ambassador in the region. Now, finally, everything has worked out and we are ready to offer to the business in the Far East a range of legal services at a totally new level”. 

The Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk office is the firm’s 5th, following full offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Krasnoyarsk, and the alliance office in Vladivostok.

Wolf Theiss has successfully represented Interritus Limited and Trinity Investments Limited on Austrian regulatory and merger control elements of their March 13, 2015 acquisition, via strategic partnership, of 99.78% of the spun-off part of the Austrian state-owned Kommunalkredit Austria AG from Finanzmarktbeteiligung Aktiengesellschaft des Bundes (originally reported on by CEE Legal Matters on March 16, 2015).

As competent authority within the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the European Central Bank announced its non-objection to the acquisition on September 23, 2015, and the deal closed on September 28, 2015. 

As reported in the spring, CMS Vienna advised FIMBAG, with Binder Groesswang advising Gesona Beteilingungsverwaltung GmbH, the acquisition vehicle of Interritus Limited (from the United Kingdom) and Trinity Investments Limited (from Ireland). Freshfields advised Kommunalkredit Austria. After the deal, Oesterreichischer Gemeindebund, the Austrian association of municipalities, retains its share of 0.22%. 

The purchase contract signed with Interritus on March 13 was completed on September 28 when all conditions, particularly the approval of banking regulatory and antitrust authorities and the completion of a corporate restructuring, were met. An important component in the privatization of Kommunalkredit was transferring the banking operations and the entire company organization (including all participations and staff) to a new company specifically founded for this purpose by way of demerger. Upon closing, the bank — which  focuses on municipal and infrastructural projects in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as in the new member states of the EU — can now procure new banking business. The balance sheet total of the new Kommunalkredit is currently EUR 4.5 billion. 

The Wolf Theiss team was led by Consultant Christine Siegl, while Counsel Jochen Anweiler handling merger control proceedings. 

The CMS core team was made up of Rakosi and Schmid-Schmidsfelden, along with Attorney Anna Wieser, AssocIate Eva-Maria Voegerl. Partner Bernt Elsner handled competition/state aid law aspects.

“The banking operations of Kommunalkredit were sold in the course of a structured privatization process,” said Alexander Rakosi, Partner at CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz. “We are very pleased to have been able to support FIMBAG as its exclusive legal counsel on this transaction and to have positively contributed to producing a successful result for our client. This mandate once more underscores our strong expertise in the banking and transactions sector, including in the context of state-owned institutions and institutions closely associated with the state.” 

Of Counsel Wieland Schmid-Schmidsfelden also commented on the challenges involved, saying, “the high complexity of the transaction was due to the fact that not only parallel negotiations with several bidders had to be conducted, but that aspects of corporate law and contractual law as well as privatisation law, banking law and EU law issues had to be addressed as well – all of which the team excelled at.” 

Integrites has announced that former Moscow office Managing Partner Roman Kryvosheyev will head the firm’s new office in Guangzhou, China, and that he will be replaced as MP in Moscow by Mikhail Marinin, who came on board in September of this year. Marinin’s practice focuses on dispute resolution, trade, banking/finance, and project finance.

Prior to joining Integrites last month, Marinin worked at Coface Russia, first as Deputy CEO responsible for debt-related issues (from 2005 to 2009) and then as head of its trade and project finance practice (from 2009-2012).

Simultaneously, Integrites announced the expansion of its dispute resolution practice in Russia with the addition of four new lawyers, bringing the office’s lawyer head-count to 30.

On September 29, Erste Bank Novi Sad announced that it had sold an NPL portfolio of EUR 23.5 million to the Czech fund APS. AP Legal provided legal advice on the deal to APS while Erste was supported by Joksovic, Stojanovic & Partners.

The Erste press release explained that the loans in the portfolio were placed in Serbia in the last 30 years with a large part of them being inherited from Novosadska Banka (which was taken over by Erste in 2005). According to APS, Erste Bank Novi Sad, which became one of the first Serbian lenders to sell a non-performing loan portfolio to a foreign fund, wrote off these receivables in 2014 and their sale to APS represented one-off income.

Another NPL portfolio is expected to be sold by Erste by the end of the year. 

The AP Legal team advising on the deal was led by Partner Aleksandar Preradovic, while JSP’s team was led by Senior Partner Petar Stojanovic.

Image Source: erstegroup.com

The last of the 95 members of the Madrid System, signatory only to the Madrid Agreement but not to the Madrid Protocol, has acceded to the latter. Thus, the Madrid System is now transformed into a One Treaty System with Algeria being the last member.

The Madrid System

The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, concluded back in 1891 (the “Agreement”), and the Protocol Related to the Madrid Agreement, concluded in 1989 (the “Protocol”), govern the System for International Registration of Marks (the “Madrid System”). The latter system is administrated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. 

Thanks to the Madrid System, an applicant, i.e. an individual or a legal entity – related to a contracting party to the Agreement or the Protocol based on nationality, domicile or establishment, is entitled to apply for international registration of a trade mark. The System offers several advantages to the applicant(s) and the owner(s) of a trade mark. 

Under the Madrid System, an applicant may apply for registration of a trade mark in all member countries of the Madrid System simply by filing a single international application in one language and paying one set of fees. Likewise, any further changes in the trade mark registration (e.g. change in ownership) can be registered with effect for all designated contracting parties, i.e. countries and/or organizations, if possible, by undertaking a single action and submitting a single fee. Moreover, the validity period of an international trade mark registration is the same for all designated contracting parties and can be renewed for further periods of 10 years by means of a single request. 

Impact on International Trade Marks 

Until now, the application for international trade mark registration required that the applicant designates one or more contracting parties where protection is sought either under the Agreement, on the basis of a trade mark registration in the office of origin, or under the Protocol, on the basis of a trade mark application filed with the office of origin. The applicable treaty depends on the treaty that is common for the designated party and the contracting party which office is the office of origin. If both contracting parties were party to the Agreement and the Protocol, the application was governed by the Protocol. 

Having Algeria sign the Protocol, all designations under the Madrid System will now be governed by the Protocol as all contracting parties to the Agreement are parties to the Protocol, too. 

From a practical perspective, this is expected to speed up the international trade mark registration procedure since all applications for international trade mark registration shall be filed only on the basis of a trade mark application filed with the office of origin (i.e. the applicant shall be entitled to file an application of international trade mark registration prior to the completion of the entire registration procedure with respect to his/her trade mark before the office of origin). This shall save the applicant from several months to more than a year. 

In view of the above, there will be no more applications for international trade mark registration governed exclusively by the Agreement. Thus, following the entry into force of the Protocol with respect to Algeria on the 31st of October 2015, the Agreement would lose practical meaning, i.e. is no longer to be applied. 

By Anna Rizova, Managing Partner and Georgi Kanev, Associate, Wolf Theiss

Mikhail Kazantsev, Partner of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, has been appointed Public Business Ombudsman on de-offshorisation and capital amnesty by the office of Boris Titov, Business Ombudsman, under the auspices of the Russian President.

In his Business Ombudsman role, Kazantsev will exercise public oversight of observance of entrepreneurs’ rights and legitimate interests in the area of taxation related to de-offshorisation and capital amnesty. In particular, his efforts will focus on identifying problems in de-offshorisation legislation and propose solutions. He will also liaise with government authorities and entrepreneurial associations on matters related to complaints of violation of rights in taxation in connection with de-offshorisation and capital amnesty, as well as implementing legal awareness efforts in the area.  

Kazantsev, was involved in the drafting of Russian legislation on controlled foreign companies and capital amnesty. He was on the inter-agency task force to draft a capital amnesty bill and a task force on legislative initiatives regulating legal services under the auspices of  the Russian Ministry of Justice. 

Chadbourne & Parke has announced that American lawyer Ben Donovan joined the firm’s Project Finance Group in June, resident in the London office.

Donovan was previously a partner with DLA Piper (2012-2015) and Dewey & LeBoeuf (2002-2012). He began his career in 1999 as an Associate at Troutman Sanders. His practice focuses on project development and finance, where he has represented independent power producers, oil and gas companies, government and parastatal entities, investment funds, lenders and other industry participants in the development, acquisition, financing, restructuring and divestiture of projects. He also has experience in the development and financing of projects in the upstream and midstream oil and gas, power and petrochemicals industry sectors. He also has significant mergers and acquisitions experience in the power and upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas industry sectors, with a particular emphasis on projects in Africa, Turkey, Central Asia, and the Middle East.   

Donovan received his BA (1992) and JD (1995) from Syracuse University in the United States. He is admitted to practice in the US states of New York and Georgia and in England and Wales, and has resided in New York, London, Riyadh, and Johannesburg.

“We are delighted to add an experienced and talented energy lawyer like Ben, whose practice is well-suited to our geographic footprint in the EMEA region and highly complementary of our strategic ambitions for growth in those markets,” said Andy Giaccia, Chadbourne’s Managing Partner. “We look forward in particular to Ben helping us support and grow our Africa and Turkey practices, where we see increasing demand.”

“Chadbourne’s energy and projects practices are among the leading practices in the world, and I am excited to join the firm,” said Donovan. “I look forward to taking an active role in helping to grow Chadbourne’s EMEA energy and projects practice, where there are significant opportunities in power and oil and gas infrastructure projects, and also to working with colleagues inside the firm whom I have known for many years.”

The competition practice team at EPAP Ukraine has assisted the Nokia Corporation in obtaining regulatory clearance from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for its EUR 15.6 billion acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent in April 2015. Each company’s Board of Directors has already approved the terms of the proposed transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2016.

Nokia, of course, which is headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and has operations around the world, operates in the fields of network infrastructure, location-based technologies, and advanced technologies. The company is focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware, and services, which it offers through Nokia Networks; location intelligence, which it provides through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which it pursues through Nokia Technologies. Through these businesses, the company has a global presence, employing around 57,000 people. Shares of Nokia are publicly listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

Alcatel-Lucent is a leading IP networking, ultra-broadband access, and cloud applications specialist. The company employs approximately 52 600 employees, including 20,000 R&D employees. It is organized in two main operating segments: Core Networking, which including the IP Routing, IP Transport, and IP Platforms business divisions; and Access, which includes the Wireless, Fixed Access, Licensing, and Managed Services business divisions. Alcatel-Lucent’s shares are traded on Euronext Paris, which represents the principal trading market for its ordinary shares, as well as on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American Depository Shares.

The competition team of EPAP Ukraine was led by Partner Oksana Ilchenko and Associate Oksana Franko.

Image Source: nokia.com

Tamas Tercsak, the former Managing Partner of Dentons in Budapest, has joined CMS in the role of Counsel as of October 1 2015.

Tercsak was the Managing Partner of Kovari Tercsak Dentons Europe Attorneys — the Budapest office of Dentons (formerly Salans) — from 2013 to 2015, leading up to the merger between the local Dentons and White & Case offices (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on April 15, 2015), at which point the office was renamed Reczicza Dentons Europe with Istvan Reczicza taking on the role of Managing Partner. Between 2006 and 2013, Tercsak was the Managing Partner of Kovari Tercsak Salans Attorneys (with Salans merging into Dentons in 2013), and from 1996-2006 he was a Partner with Szabo Kovari Tercsak & Partners Attorneys (the law firm associated with Ernst & Young in Budapest). Tercsak also worked for EY as an In-House Counsel between 1993 and 1996 and as a Partner between 1998 and 2002.

Gabriella Ormai, Managing Partner of CMS commented: “We are happy to welcome Tamas on board; with his qualities and tremendous experience he will be a great addition to our team. Also, I trust that Tamas is a good fit with the acumen and spirit of the largest law firm in Hungary.”

Wiercinski Kwiecinski Baehr (WKB) has advised British American Tobacco on Polish legal aspects of its acquisition of the Polish e-cigarette maker Chic Group, with the London office of Herbert Smith Freehills serving as global advisor to BAT on the deal.

The Chic Group and its owners were advised by Ernst & Young Law Talasiewicz i Wspolnicy sp.k. Closing of the transaction remains conditional on the consent of the President of the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, and the sale price was not disclosed.

Chic is the e-cigarette market leader in Poland, offering brands such as Volish, P1, Provog, Cottien, LiQueen, and Aromativ. The Polish market is one of the world’s largest for e-cigarettes, and is expected to grow 31 percent to USD 572 million this year as a result of tobacco tax increases that have led smokers to forsake traditional cigarettes.

The WKB team that advised BAT on the transaction consisted of Partner James Jedrzejak, International Partner Ben Davey, and Senior Associate Klaudia Fratczak-Kospin. BAT also received financial and tax advice from Deloitte.

The EY Law team representing the owners of the Chic Group consisted of Director Zuzanna Zakrzewska and Senior Associate Magdalena Kasiarz-Lewandowska.

Image Source: volish.pl