Asters has acted as a legal counsel to International Finance Corporation in connection with its recent restructuring deal with the Mriya group.
Overall, the restructuring negotiations and procedures took up to 20 months. Asters team's advisory role covered multiple dimensions, including developing the legal and tax models of the deal, evaluation of different options, negotiating the proposed models on behalf of IFC, representing IFC in the Ukrainian enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings, developing complex contractual settlement mechanisms and assisting the parties with the antitrust clearance.
As an outcome, several IFC loan transactions have evolved in a component of the global restructuring deal involving all the major creditors of Mriya and, partially, a secured long-term lease deal among IFC and the newly created Mriya entities.
Our banking, finance, restructuring and litigation teams were led by partner Iryna Pokanay and included counsel Gabriel Aslanian, associates Vitaliy Kornev, Inna Bondarenko and Anatoliy Donets. Our partner Constantin Solyar and senior associate Marina Golovko took care of the tax part of this project. Asters antimonopoly team consisted of partner Alexey Pustovit and associate Olena Tsygulska.
Asters partner Iryna Pokanay commented on the deal: "This restructuring is a prominent example of how fruitful the synergy of truly committed and efficient teams can be, no matter how challenging the tasks may seem at the beginning. We had acted as IFC's local counsel on the Mriya financing before 2015 and started advising IFC on the restructuring in early 2017. Our main task was to develop and implement the structure helping the client reach its objectives simultaneously with eliminating all existing legal obstacles and potential risks. The work on this matter was as fascinating as its result."
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IFC – a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group – is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. IFC works with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using its capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of the world. In FY17, IFC delivered a record $19.3 billion in long-term financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to help end poverty and boost shared prosperity.
Asters is the largest law firm in Ukraine with offices in Kyiv, Washington D.C. and Brussels. Chambers Europe 2018 recognizes 22 lawyers of Asters – the largest number of the renowned practitioners in a single Ukrainian law firm.
