Asters has advised the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank on its EUR 8 million financing to the Real Estate Development Centre for the construction of a 128-room hotel in Lviv, Ukraine.

Asters has advised the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on a EUR 10 million financing for the Grain Alliance Group.

Did You Know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, Clifford Chance worked on the most reported deals in CEE during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, from April 1, 2020, through January 1, 2022? In fact, the Magic Circle stalwart worked on an impressive 51 reported deals in CEE during that period – more than any other firm.

Asters, working with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, has successfully represented the interests of PrivatBank in two parallel arbitration proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration regarding the enforcement of eurobonds issued in 2010 and 2013.

Asters has successfully represented Power Construction Corporation of China and Powerchina Huadong Engineering Corporation in challenging security measures granted by the Kyiv Court of Appeal in assistance to arbitration proceedings pending before the Dubai International Arbitration Center against the Fursy Energy Group and FAS Energy.

Asters has advised Olson Family Trust Director Chuck Olson prior to and during his visit to Ukraine on the implementation of the first phase of the trust’s humanitarian mission. 

Asters has successfully defended the interests of PrivatBank before the Supreme Court in a case relating to the bank's nationalization.

Asters, working pro bono with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, has advised the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on the inter-state proceedings being brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation before the European Court of Human Rights.

Asters Partner and Co-Head of International Arbitration and Cross-Border Litigation Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi has been appointed to the working group on the development and implementation of international legal mechanisms to seek compensation for the damages caused by Russia's war against Ukraine.

Asters has successfully represented PrivatBank before the Central Commercial Court of Appeal in a UAH 152 million dispute regarding the ownership rights over its Dnipro head-office building.

According to the CEE Legal Matters CEE By The Numbers report, between 2019 and 2021, Ukraine saw a large decrease in the number of ranked law firms and lawyers at ranked firms. While in 2019 the number of Ukrainian law firms ranked by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 was 95, in 2021 the same number decreased to 69. Similarly, the number of ranked-firm lawyers decreased from 1,579 in 2019 to 1,338 in 2021. The decreasing trend is particularly visible in comparison to other CEE countries.

In 2021 the renewable energy market in Ukraine has been in a crisis mode compared to the booming years of 2018 and 2019. Following the legislative changes in 2020, which decreased the feed-in tariff (FiT), the market for solar projects has been very low, except for small solar projects for households and solar projects implemented by industrial consumers to produce electricity for their own use. Primarily, such industrial consumers are aiming to reduce costs for electricity and improve their market position before the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Notwithstanding the weakening of the market for solar projects, we have observed a steady growth of wind projects. The 2020 FiT changes have decreased the wind tariff moderately and provided a cut-off day for wind projects under the FiT on December 31, 2022. This has boosted the construction of several large wind projects in 2021 and 2022. In 2022 we anticipate commissioning of almost 1 gigawatt of wind capacity, which is much higher than in 2021.

Asters, March 22, 2022: On 15 March 2022 the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine ''On Organization of Employment Relations during Martial Law'' (the ''Law''). The Law is not in force yet, as it awaits for the signature of the President and official publication. Nevertheless, as enactment of the Law appears to be a matter of couple days, therefore we suggest reviewing its main provisions based on the currently available text.

Asters, March 16, 2022:The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is ready to provide conditions to work in the western regions of Ukraine for enterprises located in the zone of risk and active hostilities. Primarily, the state encourages the relocation of strategic enterprises and enterprises that produce essential goods to meet the needs of the civilian population and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Asters, March 1, 2022: On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Not only military facilities, but also civilian areas and objects (residential buildings, hospitals, kindergartens, etc.) are under the indiscriminate attack of the Russian forces.

The Ukrainian legal services market has been buzzing with work in the first half of 2021. CEE Legal Matters hosted a round table conversation in which Partners at Asters, Avellum, Integrites, Kinstellar, and Sayenko Kharenko discussed the driving forces behind the workload and their outlook for the months to come.

Asters has appointed Counsel Anzhelika Livitska to head the Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development practice.

2018 has been an enjoyable year for those wanting the Ukrainian legislator to improve the country’s corporate legal framework. Since limited liability companies (LLCs) and joint stock companies (JSCs) are the most frequent forms of business in Ukraine, improvement in this direction appears to be especially important. On June 17, 2018, the Law on Limited and Additional Liability Companies (the “LLC Law”) came into force, completely replacing the outdated regulation of LLCs. Moving to JSCs, the legislator adopted a law that amended several legal acts regulating these companies and the stock market in general (the “JSC Law”). Below we will outline these major changes in the Corporate Governance in Ukraine.