Deals

AEQUO advised Dragon Capital Investments

AEQUO has advised the Dragon Capital Group of companies, one of the leading private equity investors in Ukraine, on acquisition of two business centers— Prime and Eurasia — from BTA BANK, Ukraine. The deal marked further expansion of investments of Dragon Capital Group into commercial real estate in Kiev, following last year’s remarkable acquisition of the Pyramid Shopping Mall.

AEQUO’s project team included senior associate Bohdan Dmukhovskyy and associate Mykhailo Soroka, who worked under the general supervision of partner Yulia Kyrpa.

Dentons — legal counsel to VTB Bank

Dentons operated as Ukrainian legal counsel to VTB Bank Germany with respect to the restructuring and acquisition of the USD 75 million loan to a large development company and security package from VTB Bank Ukraine. The firm’s team provided legal support on the structuring of the transaction, drafting of  transaction documentation and regulatory advice.

Dentons team was led by Kiev partner Natalia Selyakova with significant input from London partner Evgenia Laurson (English law advice) and associates Nadiya Shylienkova and Artem Lukyanov.

Ukraine’s USD 3 billion sovereign bond issue and tender offer

AVELLUM acted as Ukrainian legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine on its USD 3 billion, 15-year, 7.375% Eurobond issue which was combined with the cash tender offer to the holders of outstanding Eurobonds due 2019 and 2020. A portion of the net proceeds from the new issue were applied by Ukraine to fund the repurchase of  USD 1.16 billion of its 2019 Eurobonds and USD 415 million of its 2020 Eurobonds. The remaining net proceeds of the new issue will be used for general budgetary purposes.

The AVELLUM team was led by senior partner Glib Bondar with significant support from senior associate Taras Dmukhovskyy, tax counsel Vadim Medvedev, and associates Anna Melnychuk, Pavlo Shevchenko, Orest Franchuk, Anastasia Voronova, Oleg Krainskyi and Vladyslav Aleksandrov.

Sayenko Kharenko acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities, joint lead managers of the Eurobond issue by Ukraine.

Sayenko Kharenko’s team that worked on the transaction included senior associates Marta Lozenko and Konstantin Penskoy, associates Taras Shyb and Andriy Tsyatsyak, junior associate Oles Trachuk, and was led by partner Nazar Chernyavsky.

Asters advised EBRD

Asters acted as a legal counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in connection with its up to USD 25 million financing to Novus, Ukraine’s major retail chain owned by Lithuanian shareholders.

A seven-year loan will be used to finance the expansion of Novus, which is aiming to open a new logistics centre and 10 new stores in Kiev and Kiev Region by the end of 2018.

The aforementioned financing is provided within the frameworks of the long-term EBRD and Novus partnership, on which matters Asters has been advising EBRD since 2013.

Asters’ banking and finance team advising on the project consisted of partner Iryna Pokanay, counsel Gabriel Aslanian, associates Inna Bondarenko and Oleksandr Khomenko.