Integrites Partner and Head of International Arbitration Olena Perepelynska has been appointed as a Member of the Baltic Litigation Fund Advisory Committee.

Integrites has represented SE Starokostiantynivskyy milk plant in a dispute against the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

Two laws of 15 July 2021 on amending transitional provisions of the Tax Code and the Customs Code of Ukraine "to promote the development of ecological transport in Ukraine" (Nos. 1660-ix, 1661-ix) will introduce some tax and customs facilitations with effect from 1 January 2022.

Integrites has successfully represented seamless stainless-steel pipe manufacturer Centravis in a sunset review of antidumping measures against the import of Ukrainian pipes into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Integrites will advise the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine on improving Ukrainian energy commodity markets, including the organized trading of commodity products.

Integrites has advised Sturgeon Capital on the due diligence for its acquisition of PeopleForce.

Sorainen, working with Herbert Smith Freehills, has advised Certares on its EUR 300 million structured equity investment into the Avia Solutions Group. Magnusson, working with White & Case and Cyprus-based Antis Triantafyllides & Sons, advised ASG on the deal.

Like the rest of the world, the Ukrainian M&A market was dramatically hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Indeed, the number of M&A deals decreased in 2020, for the first time since 2014. However, the fourth quarter of 2020 saw a positive surge in the number of M&A deals, and although most of those deals started before the pandemic, the fact that they still happened sent a clear signal: investors are ready to buy in the new reality.

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.

CMS' Malgorzata Surdek-Janicka has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Aside from Surdek-Janicka, 33 lawyers from CEE were appointed as members and alternate members of the court.

The Government of Ukraine has recently implemented additional measures to prevent and counteract the legalization (laundering) of proceeds of crime, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Thus, Ukraine made one more step towards implementing 4th Money Laundering EU Directive.

11 June 2021 saw the published form of disclosing the legal entity’s ownership structure approved by Order 163 of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine dated 19.03.2021 (hereinafter – the Order) pursuant to Law of Ukraine No. 361-ІХ “On Prevention and Counteraction to Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds of Crime or Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” dated 06.12.2019. New requirements to the disclosure of the legal entity's ownership structure will apply from 11 July 2021. All legal entities incorporated in Ukraine must submit their ownership structures to the state registrar till 11 October 2021 in compliance with new requirements.

The Banking & Finance practice of Integrites in Ukraine has had its hands full lately, according to Partner Igor Krasovskiy, mainly thanks to the economic impact of Covid-19, Ukraine’s energy strategy, and the country’s commitments to international financial institutions.

Integrites has advised EuroCape Ukraine I on the commencement of commercial generation of electricity in Phase I of the 500 MW Zaporizhzhia Wind Park.

With effect from 27 April 2021, the Ukrainian entities have been granted the right to make regular interest payments and final capital repayment under Eurobonds and other own debt securities traded on foreign stock exchanges in excess of a so called EUR 2 mln e-limit. In addition, the entities are now allowed to accumulate and periodically replenish foreign currency on the bank accounts in the amount of principal and interest due on the notes on the nearest repayment date.

Integrites has helped Khlibni Investytsii subsidiary Chanta Mount secure a USD 3 million loan from Raiffeisen Bank International for the construction of a new production line.

Ukrainian Dispute Resolution specialist Serhii Uvarov has become the 12th partner at Integrites.

The consequences of the pandemic are also leaving their mark on Ukraine. Ukraine’s GDP declined by 4.6% in 2020, compared to expected growth of 3.7% before the pandemic. However, unemployment has (officially) only risen from 9.0% to 9.9%, which may be related to the fact that a large proportion of the workers affected by redundancies were in the informal sector, i.e. not officially employed.