Orrick’s multi-office team has advised JSC Sukhoi Civil Aircraft on its USD 1 billion sale, lease, and financing of a fleet of 31 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircrafts to Ireland’s CityJet.

Dmitry Lyubomudrov has been appointed Managing Partner at Andrey Gorodissky & Partners.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has advised the ESN Group on the design and construction of a methanol plant in the Amur Region in Russia.

TGS Baltic and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner have advised the Mubadala Investment Company on investment in MEL Science — part of the latter's USD 14 million Series B funding round.

Revera has advised My.Games on its investments in Belarusian game development studios Mamboo Games, Appyfurious, and Purple Games. 

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s Moscow office has advised Gazpromneft-Snabzhenie on the establishment of the Isource joint venture with Gazprombank.

Akin Gump has advised Equinor on its USD 550 million acquisition of a 49% stake in KrasGeoNaC from Rosneft. Linklaters’s Moscow office advised the seller on the deal.

Noerr has advised Axion Cyprus Holding Limited, a holding company of Russia's Softline Group, on its acquisition of a majority stake in Softline AG, a company listed on the open market segment of the Dusseldorf stock exchange, from its current major shareholder, Baden-Baden-based S.K. Management-und Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH. Houthoff Cooperatief and August Debouzy also advised Axion on the deal, which is expected to close before March 31, 2021.

DLA Piper’s Moscow office has advised Sberbank Investments on its provision of a RUB 2 billion secured mezzanine loan to a Russian construction company Avtoban to finance the construction of Startup Facilities No 3 and No 4 of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow Region. 

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s Moscow office has advised Teva on the sale of a pharmaceutical company located in the Yaroslavl Industrial Park to Russia’s R-Pharm Group.

Since 22 October 2018, the assets of several hundred mostly Ukrainian persons which are located in Russia have been frozen based on Presidential Decree 592 of 22 October 2018 (“Presidential Decree 592”) and Governmental Order 1300 of 1 November 2018 (“Governmental Order 1300”). To date, these and other sanctions against Ukraine are the only measures which have been taken under Federal Law 127-FZ “On measures (counter-measures) in response to unfriendly actions of the United States [...]” of 4 June 2018.

Already suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia has been heavily affected by the volatility of the ruble, Western sanctions, and the price of oil, notes Torsten Syrbe, Partner at Clifford Chance in Moscow.

On October 15, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Kachkin & Partners had successfully helped Russian general contractor STEP LLC reach a settlement with Pharmasintez-Nord JSC in a dispute regarding payment for work and related claims worth over RUR 100 million. CEEIHM spoke with Yulia Nikolaeva, Head of Legal Service at STEP LLC, to learn more.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has advised the HeadHunter Group, which operates Russian online recruiting platform hh.ru, on the acquisition of the Zarplata.ru online recruiting platform from Hearst Shkulev Digital Regional Network B.V. The transaction, which is valued at RUB 3.5 billion, has already been given the requisite regulatory approval and is expected to close in January 2021.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has advised Gazprom Neft PJSC on the creaion of  Digital Industrial Platform, a joint venture with the Tsifra Group. Dentons reportedly advised the Tsifra Group on the deal.

Latham & Watkins has advised the underwriters on the USD 1.1 billion initial public offering of Russian e-commerce platform Ozon Holdings PLC on Nasdaq. Debevoise & Plimpton advised Ozon Holdings on the deal.

As in other countries, business in Russia has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and small and medium enterprises, which do not have enough reserves to survive in the unfavorable economic situation, have suffered the most. In order to support SMEs, the State, in addition to temporary support measures, has introduced a considerable decrease in the tax burden related to the remuneration of employees above the minimum monthly wage. Cumulative social contributions were lowered to 15% from the previous rate (which could reach 30%, with certain exceptions), and may be applied by SMEs.

Former Senior Associate Oleg Todua has been promoted to Local Partner at White & Case’s Moscow office as part of a global promotions round.