Sayenko Kharenko represented the winner of the pilot concession tender in Ukraine

Sayenko Kharenko has acted as legal counsel to a successful international consortium in relation to participation in both pilot tenders for the concession of Kherson and Olvia seaports. The concession projects provide for the operation and maintenance of functioning seaport infrastructure by the investor for periods of 30 and 35 years respectively.

The concession tenders were announced in September 2019 with support from the EBRD and the IFC. They were designed as a multi-stage process that includes pre-qualification shortlisting and a full invitation to tender. Sayenko Kharenko has represented the interests of Risoil Kherson LLC and Risoil Olvia LLC from the very beginning of the tender, supporting the client at every stage. On 20 January 2020, Sayenko Kharenko's client was declared the winner of the Kherson seaport concession tender as his bid provided for the best financial conditions. After the successful passing of the pre-qualification stage, the client made a strategic decision not to proceed with filing a financial bid for the Olvia seaport.

According to its investment commitments outlined in the financial bid, Risoil Kherson LLC will invest almost UAH 300 million in the development of the seaport and local infrastructure. The bid envisaged a high variable concession payment rate of 7% and a fixed concession payment amounting to UAH 12 million. In addition, Risoil Kherson LLC will invest over UAH 18 million into local infrastructure.

The closing of the transaction is subject to prior approval of the AMCU, as well as execution of the concession agreement, which will be negotiated between the parties within the next three months.

Sayenko Kharenko’s team working on the project was coordinated by counsel Volodymyr Yaremko with support of associate Vladlena Lavrushyna, who also managed comprehensive tender representation of Risoil Kherson LLC and Risoil Olvia LLC during the concession tender. Associate team of Timur Enkhbaiar, Ilhar Hakhramanov, Mykola Lykhoglyad and Sviatoslav Kozak provided support from the corporate and real estate law perspectives under the supervision of counsel Dmytro Korbut.

Senior associate Julia Kuyda and associate Anastasia Bodnar, supervised by partner Maksym Nazarenko, handle the process of application to the AMCU.