The Moscow and London offices of Baker Botts have advised PAO Novatek on the sale of a 10% participation interest in the Arctic LNG 2 project to each of China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China National Petroleum Corporation. Herbert Smith Freehills advised China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation on its investment. Pinsent Masons and Infralex reportedly represented CNOOC on the deal.

Eversheds Sutherland has merged with Russian law firm Tilling Peters, adding nine lawyers, including partners Oxana Peters and Ekaterina Tilling, to its team.

Akin Gump has advised Russian Internet and IT company Mail.ru on the formation of a joint venture with the Alibaba Group, a global digital commerce company, PJSC MegaFon, a pan-Russian operator of digital opportunities, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund. Cleary advised MegaFon on the deal, while Linklaters advised the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Debevoise advised Alibaba.

Bardugov Alexander is the Head of Legal of Banca Intesa in Moscow, a role which he has held since 2013. He first joined Banca Intesa in 2004 as a Junior Legal Counsel, gradually progressing to Head of Sector for Banking Operations Legal Support in 2008, Head of Legal Support for Retail and SME in 2009, and Head of Business Legal Support in 2010.

Artyom Podshibyakin is the Head of Legal and Compliance of INDITEX Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Prior to joining INDITEX over a decade ago, Podshibyakin was a Senior Lawyer with IKEA MOS Retail and Property.

Almost 20 years ago, the Russian Government decided to develop a renewable energy sector and promote renewable energy projects in the country. These efforts brought huge investments and complex technologies to the Russian renewable energy sector, which now features major global industry players like Vestas, Fortum, Siemens, Enel, and Lagerwey.

Nektorov Saveliev & Partners was assigned the bondholder representative for the issuance of three million non-convertible interest-bearing certificated exchange-traded bonds of PAO AKB Avangard.

Latham & Watkins has advised HeadHunter Group PLC, an online recruitment platform operating in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, on the USD 253 million initial public offering of its American Depositary Shares.

Ksenia Litvinova has been promoted to partner at the Pepeliaev Group.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and Harneys have advised HMS Technologies Limited, a major shareholder of HMS Hydraulic Machines & Systems Group, on the restructuring of core shareholder shareholding.

Bird & Bird has promoted Anna Shashina, the head of its London-based Russian desk, to partner.

In recent years, Russia has experienced intense development in its automotive industry. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the subsequent deep economic crisis, it quickly became apparent that the Russia’s automotive industry was unable to meet the needs of the newly developing automotive market in Russia. National producers lost market share to foreign manufacturers despite high import custom rates. Russian consumers were not willing to buy technically outdated national products and were looking for foreign brands.

Dentons has represented a pool of leading international financial institutions including the Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, International Finance Corp, and responsAbility Investments AG.as creditors to Azerbaijan's AccessBank, on the successful debt restructuring and recapitalization of the bank.

Ilyashev & Partners has promoted Head of Moscow Office Vladimir Zakharov to partner.

Dentons has advised The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank on its extension of a USD 69 million loan to the Russian State Transport Leasing Company to finance the construction of the Lavna Coal Transshipment Terminal at the Murmansk sea port. Allen & Overy reportedly advised the borrowers.

The Russian Arbitration Association are proud to invite you to the III Annual Conference on Assets Tracing, Injunctions, Experts and 3d Party Funding on June 6 in Moscow.

“From the perspective of a finance lawyer, my general observation is that the biggest problem is of course the political issue,” says Herbert Smith Freehills Partner Olga Davydava, referring to the sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union. “The political situation really affects the legal market.”

Baker Botts has acted for PAO Novatek, one of the largest independent natural gas producers in Russia, on the sale of a ten percent participation interest in the Arctic LNG 2 project to Total S.A.. The transaction was signed on March 4, 2019, and it is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2019.