Kinstellar is delighted to announce that Ömer Erdoğan has joined the firm’s Istanbul office as Partner. His joining reinforces our team’s capabilities in Turkey—particularly our expertise in the real estate, infrastructure and energy sectors as well as project finance. Ömer has 18 years of experience advising multinational and local companies on their investments in Turkey and abroad. His banking and finance expertise covers a wide range of transactions in Turkey. He has led teams acting for both lenders and sponsors on trade finance, project and acquisition financings, banking regulatory, security documentation, and secured loans and syndications. Ömer’s broad experience also covers the energy
Kinstellar is delighted and proud to announce the promotions to Partner of Tomáš Melišek (Bratislava), Levente Hegedűs (Budapest), Bulut Girgin (Istanbul), Anastasiya Bolkhovitinova, Natalia Kirichenko, Oleg Matiusha, Illya Muchnyk (all in our Kyiv office), and to Counsel of Dominika Bajzáthová (Bratislava). PARTNERS Tomá š Melišek, Bratislava Tomáš is the Head of the local Banking & Finance service line. He has 15 years of experience in banking and finance, focusing on project and acquisition financing as well as on financial regulations. Tomáš has substantial experience advising clients on significant financing transactions in the areas of real estate, energy, infrastructure, automotive, media
The Romanian government has adopted secondary legislation for the organisation and functioning of the FDI Screening Commission (the “CEISD”)—the authority tasked with the review of foreign investments under Romania’s new foreign direct investment (“FDI”) regime. Specifically, the government adopted Government Decision no. 1,326/2022 approving the Regulation on the functioning of the CEISD, which came into force as of 8 November 2022 (the “CEISD Regulation”). Romania’s new FDI regime was introduced earlier this year through Government Emergency Ordinance no. 46/2022 on measures for applying EU Regulation 2019/452 establishing a framework for the examination of foreign direct investment in the Union (the
Historically, Ukraine has been known as a country with a good investment climate, particularly in the energy sector. The country’s high feed-in tariff rates, general digitalization, well-established and simplified regulatory procedures, and the availability of alternative suppliers for works and services, among other factors, have contributed to a large influx of investors in new green energy projects in Ukraine. The large-scale and aggressive war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which first began in 2014 and further escalated in 2022, has led to an increasing number of human losses and widespread material destruction. Power plants and power lines, airports, ports, schools, hospitals, roads, residential
A recent article in Ukrainian legal affairs newspaper "Yurydychna Praktyka" ("Юридична Практика) features the comments of three Kinstellar experts—Vincent Morand (Senior Legal Advisor based in Prague), Oleksandr Kurdydyk (Partner and Head of Banking and Energy & Natural Resources in Kyiv, firm-wide Head of Projects & Infrastructure, and firm-wide Co-head of Energy & Natural Resources) and Yuliia Eismont (Senior Associate in Kyiv)—focusing on the key expectations of signing the Common Aviation Area Agreement, which creates the basis for Ukraine's integration with the European Aviation Area. The article shares the viewpoints of leading lawyers on the long-term consequences of signing the
Kinstellar is delighted to announce that Sherzod Yunusov has joined the firm’s Tashkent office as Partner. His joining the firm bolsters our team’s capabilities in Uzbekistan and particularly our expertise in the energy and infrastructure sectors and project finance. Sherzod Yunusov has expertise and an established track record handling a wide array of matters related to oil and gas transactions (including exploration and gas production; production sharing agreements; development of fields; design and construction of infrastructure projects; gas transportation and processing; plant operation; sales of gas; and project finance), renewables (solar and wind), and infrastructure projects. He also advises on restructurings
Despite having the largest port potential in the region, with 13 state-owned seaports located on the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas, Ukraine’s port industry struggles with various problems, including outdated and worn-out equipment, a lack of deep-water anchorages, the inadequate condition of public transport infrastructure, fragmentation of port lands and assets, lack of proper regulation for outer harbour (roadstead) construction works, high port tariffs compared to neighbouring countries etc. Among other things, there is an urgent need to modernise state-owned port assets and to improve their management, both of which require significant financial investments and new approaches using the best international practices.
Kinstellar, in conjunction with the UK law firm Linklaters, has successfully advised a group of international banks in relation to the concession agreement and the drafting and negotiating of financing documentation for the first-ever PPP motorway project in the Czech Republic. The banks involved in financing the transaction are: Československá obchodní banka, KfW IPEX, DZ Bank, NordLB, MEAG, SMBC, Siemens Bank, UniCredit and Société Générale. The roughly CZK 18 billion (approximately EUR 700 million) deal required considerable expertise on the part of the team, as well as the need to devise a large number of new projects and financing-related solutions. A French consortium comprising VINCI Concessions and
Kinstellar Budapest has successfully advised SK innovation on the acquisition of land for its new automotive battery factory to be built in Iváncsa, Hungary. SK innovation is the third largest company in South Korea, operator of the largest oil refinery in the country, leader in the domestic petrochemical industry and a global trader of crude oils and petrochemicals. This will be the company's largest European factory unit, comprising a new e-battery plant with a capacity of 30GWh and entailing a total investment value of USD 2.29 billion, being the largest greenfield investment in Hungary’s history. The Kinstellar team was led by Anthony O’Connor (Partner) and Barnabás Sági (Associate). For more
Kinstellar, in conjunction with the UK law firm Linklaters, has successfully advised a group of international banks in relation to the concession agreement and the drafting and negotiating of financing documentation for the first-ever PPP motorway project in the Czech Republic. The banks involved in financing the transaction are: Československá obchodní banka, KfW IPEX, DZ Bank, NordLB, MEAG, SMBC, Siemens Bank, UniCredit and Société Générale. The roughly CZK 18 billion (approximately EUR 700 million) deal required considerable expertise on the part of the team, as well as the need to devise a large number of new projects and financing-related solutions. A French consortium comprising VINCI Concessions and
On 29 April 2021, the President of Ukraine signed the Law of Ukraine “On Amendment to Section V ‘Final and Transitional Provisions’ of the Law of Ukraine on the Privatisation of State and Municipal Property for the resumption of auctions for the sale of large-scale privatisation objects” (the “Law”), which removes the ban on large-scale privatisation in Ukraine enacted a year ago due to the Covid-19 situation. The Law will become effective on the day following its publication. According to Dmytro Sennychenko, the Head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, the following companies will be the first offered for sale in 2021: United Mining and Chemical Company (one of the world's largest producers
Kinstellar and Herbert Smith Freehills will jointly host a webinar, Upcoming PPP projects in Ukraine: international perspective and local considerations, on Wednesday, 12 May 2021, at 2 pm London time / 4 pm Kyiv time. In 2020, the Ukrainian government launched an ambitious 'Big Construction' program aimed at modernisation of the country’s infrastructure including motorways, sea ports and airports. At the moment, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine is working on feasibility studies for these projects, in particular the pilot road PPP projects that have been identified as priority. These include projects on reconstruction of a 308 km section of M-06 motorway with approx. CapEx of USD370 mln and connected sections