Russia's Intellectual Capital law firm has persuaded the Moscow Arbitrazh Court that a requirement that participants in a Rosatom tender for legal counsel be ranked in Legal500 and Chambers & Partners was illegal and violated Russian competition law.

BGP Litigation has launched a Life Sciences & Technology practice, to be led by Partner Alexander Panov, who is joining the firm from the Pepeliaev Group.

The Moscow office of Eversheds Sutherland has advised the Cherkizovo Group on its acquisition of meat processing company Pit-Product from the Atria Group. Finnish law firm Castren & Snellman and Capital Legal Services from Russia reportedly advised the Atria Group on the deal, which remains contingent on the approval of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service. 

Alexander Panov, Head of the Pepeliaev Group's Life Sciences practice, will be leaving the firm.

Andrey Gorodissky & Partners has advised Rose Group on its sale of the Tsvetnoy department store in Moscow to Bonum Capital.

Debevoise & Plimpton has advised the Ant Group on its agreements with Mail.ru Group, USM, Russian Direct Investment Fund, and MegaFon to create payments and financial services joint ventures. 

Noerr has advised the Aluminium Rheinfelden Group on the sale of its assets to Russian aluminum manufacturer RUSAL, in the form of an asset-reorganization deal.

Dentons Partner Konstantin Kroll has been appointed Head of the firm's Russian Corporate and M&A Practice in Moscow. He takes the practice over from Partner Mathieu Fabre-Magnan, who had led the practice since 2016.

Kachkin & Partners has successfully represented Anton Vladimirovich Novikov, a former top manager and a JSC Mostostroy No. 6 board of directors member, in a dispute valued at RUB 7 billion.

Lawyers from Norton Rose Fulbright's Moscow and Warsaw offices participated in the firm's multi-jurisdictional team advising Sandvik AB on its EUR 943 million acquisition of DSI Underground, a multinational underground mining solutions company, from Triton Partners.

Baker McKenzie has advised the Goal Number Seven association on the launch of the international renewable energy certificates system in Russia. The firm provided its services on a pro bono basis.

Morgan Lewis has advised Russian online services provider Yandex and its subsidiary MLU on the acquisition of Vezet Group’s call centers and cargo business. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner reportedly advised the seller.

Morgan Lewis has represented the Far East High Technology Fund on its RUB 200 million investment in Motorica, a Russian manufacturer of high-tech hand prostheses.

2020 was quite a year and one all of us will not forget. For employment and labor law developments, 2020 was unlike any other. We saw rapid change and common themes emerge across the globe. One of the major themes was the introduction of government subsidies to support employers and maintain employment across many countries. We also saw an acceleration of remote and flexible working, and which posed both opportunities and challenges for employers and employees alike. There was also an increase in regulations that govern remote working.

White & Case has advised Russian long-distance telecommunication services provider Rostelecom on the USD 464.3 million sale of a 44.8% stake in SafeData to Russia-based VTB Bank. Baker McKenzie reportedly advised the buyer.

Cash pooling is a convenient tool for optimizing cash management within a group of companies, but its popularity in Russia is limited. One of the reasons for this is the lack of unified legislation on cash pooling. In fact, it is subject to a complex regulatory landscape of civil, tax, banking, currency control, and insolvency law. One resulting difficulty is qualifying the very nature of the cash pooling arrangements. At first glance this may appear a purely academic problem, but in practice it has far-reaching practical implications.

An interview with Julien Hansen of DLA Piper Moscow.

“Loss of corporate control” encompasses various scenarios involving a person who controls a corporation ceasing to control its management bodies’ actions and decisions.