Clifford Chance’s Moscow office has helped Sovcombank obtain a USD 350 million ESG loan -- its first loan based on environmental, social and governance principles.

Stetom has advised Slovak private equity group Eastfield on the restructuring and subsequent sale of the Raevskoe winery, together with vineyards and agricultural land plots in Anapa, in the Black Sea coast region, to the Krasnodarzernoprodukt Group.

Former Hogan Lovells Moscow Managing Partner Oxana Balayan has left the firm to found her own consultancy -- the Balayan I Group -- which is scheduled to open its doors in April, 2021.

Russian lawyer Maria Kobanenko has been promoted to Partner at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners.

DLA Piper has advised Raspadskaya on its USD 920 million acquisition of Russian coal producer Yuzhkuzbassugol from EVRAZ that, the firm reports, "will lead to the creation of Russia’s largest and the world’s fifth largest coking coal company." Linklaters advised the seller on the deal.

Former Counsel Yury Babichev has been promoted to Partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.

Vironika Pilyugina has been promoted to Partner at the Moscow office of Hogan Lovells as part of the firm's global promotion round.

Former Counsel Dmitry Kaysin has been promoted to Partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan & Partners.

Liniya Prava was lead counsel to ITI Capital, co-arranger along with Sovcombank, EDB, Freedom Finance, and Univer Capital, on SKCN Finance’s RUB 2.5 billion debut bond issue. The ultimate borrower was Samruk-Kazyna Construction, a Kazakh operator of state programs in residential and commercial real estate that is wholly-owned by state-owned Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund JSC. The Lecap law firm reportedly advised ITI Capital on an element of the issuance as well.

Stanislav Petrov has been made Partner at Moscow's Infralex Law Firm.

Andrey Gorodissky & Partners has advised Tashir Medica on a Round B investment in Botkin.AI.

DLA Piper has advised Societe Generale on a USD 125 million loan to Polymetal, a gold and silver producer with assets in Russia and Kazakhstan, to finance investments in the transition to a sustainable and low-emissions economy. This is the first green loan in the Russian mining sector.

Liniya Prava has advised the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the placing of three issues of government bonds series 01, 07, and 11 for a total amount of RUB 40 billion.

CMS and Arsov Natchev Ganeva have advised contractor Arkad on the completion of the Balkan Stream Gas Pipeline project, which was completed at the end of December, 2020. Dentons’s Dubai office, KPMG Legal and Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski in Bulgaria, and Latham & Watkins in Russia reportedly also advised the contractor on the deal. Linklaters’s London office, reportedly assisted by DGKV in Bulgaria, advised unspecified lenders on financing for the project. 

Dentons’s St. Petersburg office has advised the Zyfra Group on its establishment of a joint venture with Gazprom Neft PJSC.

Noerr has advised Switzerland's Evoco AG on the acquisition of six subsidiaries of Gesco AG from Wuppertal. 

Rybalkin Gortsunyan Partners has advised the shareholders of the Uchi.ru educational platform on the sale of a 25% stake in the platform, with an option of an increase to a controlling interest, to the Mail.ru Group and a consortium of investors formed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Russia-China Investment Fund. DLA Piper reportedly advised the buyers.

Gowling WLG has become a pro bono legal advisor to the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow.