Asters acts as a legal counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in connection with its up to USD 25 million financing to Novus, Ukraine’s major retail chain owned by Lithuanian shareholders.
A seven-year loan will be used to finance the expansion of Novus, which is aiming to open a new logistics centre and 10 new stores in Kyiv and the Kyiv region by the end of 2018. The project will also introduce energy- and resource-efficiency improvements as well as climate-change mitigation and adaptation measures, in line with the EBRD's Green Economy Transition approach.
The aforementioned financing is provided within the frameworks of the long-term EBRD and Novus partnership, on which matters Asters has been advising EBRD starting from 2013.
Asters' banking and finance team advising on the project consisted of partner Iryna Pokanay, counsel Gabriel Aslanian, associates Inna Bondarenko and Oleksandr Khomenko.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost €11.7 billion through 384 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.
Asters is a full-service independent national law firm that has maintained a strong presence in Ukraine since 1995. Asters has been acknowledged as the Law Firm of the Decade by Ukraine's Legal Awards 2016. The Firm is a two-time winner of the Law Firm of the Year: Ukraine and the CIS award (The Lawyer European Awards 2014 and 2015), Law Firm of the Year (Ukraine) award (Who's Who Legal Awards 2014), Law Firm of the Year award (Ukrainian Legal Awards 2014) and is also named No.1 law firm in Ukraine according to the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Top 50 Law Firms Annual National Ranking.
