DLA Piper and PwC Legal have advised NEQSOL on its USD 734 million acquisition of VF Ukraine from Russian telecommunications operator MTS Group, which includes USD 84 million of earn-out payment. DLA Piper also advised NEQSOL on the raising of acquisition financing for the deal from a group of international funds and financial institutions led by J.P. Morgan Securities and Raiffeisen Bank International. Latham & Watkins and Aequo advised the MTS Group on the deal, while Avellum and Linklaters advised JP Morgan and Raiffeisen Bank on the underlying financing.
VF Ukraine is a Ukrainian mobile network operators with approximately 20 million subscribers.
The DLA Piper team in Ukraine was led by Partners Alla Kozachenko and Illya Sverdlov and included Partners Galyna Zagorodniuk and Oleksandr Kurdydyk, Legal Directors Dmytro Pshenychniuk and Natalia Kirichenko, and Senior Associates Dmytro Rylovnikov and Lyudmyla Dzhurylyuk. Its Ukraine-based transaction team included Country Managing Partner Margarita Karpenko, Senior Associate Olena Martsynovska, Associates Yuliia Brusko, Danylo Rudyk, Viktoriia Luganska, Zhanna Babych, and Ivan Shatov, Junior Associates Andrii Falendysh and Kateryna Tyshchenko, and Paralegals Anna Vizniak and Andrii Vlaiko.
DLA Piper's team also included London Partners Ben Forgiel-Jenkins, Mike Conradi, and Mark Dwyer.
Latham & Watkins' team in Moscow included Counsel Edward Kemspon and Associates Timur Bayramov and Alexander Fedorkov, assisted by London-based Associate Aoife McCabe.
Avellum's team included Senior Partner Glib Bondar, Partner Vadim Medvedev, Senior Associate Tetiana Mykhalienko, and Associates Anastasiya Voronova, Anna Mykhalova, and Anton Zaderyholova, and Yelyzaveta Kravtsova.
Linklaters' London-based team included Partners James Martin and Richard Levy, Managing Associate William Turner, and Senior Associate Yaroslav Alekseyev.