DEALS

AEQUO advised UniCredit

AEQUO has advised UniCredit Bank (Russian Federation) on the restructuring of a EUR 30 million loan facility granted to what the firm describes only as a major energy equipment producer operating in Ukraine and other European countries. Aequo advised on Ukrainian law matters and advised UniCredit on potential enforcement procedures, negotiated the terms of restructuring and extension of the maturity, and drafted finance and new security agreements. Upon completion of the transaction Aequo issued a legal opinion in favor of UniCredit Bank.  The firm’s team was led by partner Yulia Kyrpa and included senior associates Denys Kulgavyi and Yaroslav Lepko.

Dentons advised on Ukrainian debt restructuring

Dentons Kiev office is acting as Ukrainian legal counsel to a group of bondholders, led by one of the Ukraine’s largest private creditors, Franklin Templeton Investments, regarding the Ukrainian debt restructuring. The bondholder group also includes T. Rowe Price, TCW Group and BTG Pactual Europe.  The Dentons team in Kiev is led by partner Natalya Selyakova supported by associates Nikolay Zhovner and Nadiya Shylienkova.

AEQUO advised NCH Capital

AEQUO has advised NCH Capital (USA) and its newly acquired Ukrainian subsidiary, the NAP II FUND — Astra Bank, on fulfillment of investment obligations undertaken in the course of the bank’s buyout from the Deposit Guarantee Fund (including increase of Astra Bank’s registered capital to UAH 160 million and bringing the bank’s activities into compliance with the requirements of the banking legislation) to terminate the curatorship of the Deposit Guarantee Fund over Astra Bank, earlier declared insolvent by the National Bank of Ukraine. AEQUO acted as sole legal adviser to Astra Bank and NCH Capital on this matter. The scope of work included drafting of all project-related documents and its negotiating with Astra Bank and its shareholder, preparing filings and supporting all registration/approval procedures with the National Bank of Ukraine, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, the National Depository of Ukraine and the state registrar, communication with the Deposit Guarantee Fund, as well as advising on legal matters of the project on a daily basis. The team was led by partner Yulia Kyrpa, and included senior associates Maryna Fedorenko and Oksana Krasnokutska and associates Anton Babak and Yaroslav Lepko.

Sayenko Kharenko — legal counsel to Oschadbank

Sayenko Kharenko acted as legal counsel to Oschadbank in respect to the bank’s reprofiling of two Eurobond issues in the amount of USD 1.2 billion. The terms of the reprofiling included an optional exchange mechanism unique for Ukrainian Eurobond deals. The transaction involved two senior notes issues due 2016 and 2018 and was conducted in line with the requirements of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility. The reprofiling terms included extending the maturity of each of the notes issues by seven years, increasing the coupon and modifying the repayment schedule from bullet to amortizing repayment. In addition, Oschadbank offered the optional exchange mechanism to the noteholders, pursuant to which holders of USD 167,086,000 of the 2016 notes (2023 notes following the reprofiling) exchanged their interests in the 2016 notes for interests in the 2018 notes (2025 notes following the reprofiling) opting for longer maturity, while holders of the 2018 notes (2025 notes following the reprofiling) received pro rata allocation of the 2016 notes.

Sayenko Kharenko’s team for the current transaction included counsel Anton Korobeynikov, associates Marta Lozenko, Taras Shyb, Dmytro Vasylyna and was led by partner Nazar Chernyavsky.