PRACTICES:
- Domestic and Cross-Border Dispute Resolution: Litigation and Arbitration
- Corporate Insolvency and Winding-up
- Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and Court Judgments
- In- and Outbound Investments (Ukraine, Cyprus)
- Intellectual Property Protection: Trademarks, Industrial Designs, Anti-Counterfeit, Copyright
- Banking: Secured Cross-Border Lending, Trade Finance
- Commercial and Contract Law
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Company formation and administration (Cyprus, Ukraine, the United Kingdom), set-up of a bank account, anti-fraud policies and procedures, KYC procedures
Shkred Attorneys
17 Panasa Myrnogo St. Apt. 26
KYIV 01011
Ukraine
ph: +380-50-297-1988
admin
Our services involve representation of clients before the national and international dispute resolution bodies including arbitration tribunal such as Interantional Commercial Arbitraion Court at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
We aslo represent our clients before courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine (commercial and district courts).
Dispute Resolution
- Claims against a BVI Mutual Fund: Represented a Swiss wealth management company against a BVI mutual fund manager on a breach of investment agreement.
- Protection of Trademarks in court against an illegal takeover. Represented an Israeli producer on protection against illegal takeover of the Trademarks by a distributor.
- Reinstatement of UBO's rights in a UK LLP. Represented an ultimate beneficial owner of a UK LLP in a fraud case, wherein an LLP officer assisted by an LLP administrator attempted to embezzle cash from the LLP's bank account; managed solicitors' services from Cyprus and England.
- Represented Detecon International GmbH in the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on a claim on payment of accounts receivable for the value of €450,000 against a major Ukrainian cellular operator. The enforcement action under the "New York Convention 1958" was carried out by attaching foreign accounts receivable of the judgment debtor in the territory of Germany.
- Involved in a €2,500,000 claim at the Zurich Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Center against a Ukrainian buyer of printing equipment for non-payment of accounts receivable for the equipment sold on installment credit.
- Defense of a cellular operator in infringement of the trade name action initiated by Eurovision in an “ambush marketing” case. The parties reached peaceful settlement.
- Cease-and-desist action on the industrial designs (branded bottle) infringement claim (packaging materials for the FMCG industries) initiated by a nation-wide competitor Slavutich (Baltic Beverages Holding Group) against our client SUN Interbrew Ukraine (now InBev Ukraine). The use of the branded bottle was sustained at a pre-trial stage.
- Dispute with the State Tax Administration of Ukraine (STAU) for V.A.T. arrears. The subject matter of the dispute involved a claim by the STAU's for collection of VAT arrears accrued upon Pension Fund deductions for the mobile communications services. The claim was successfully challenged before the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine.
- Involvement in an international investment dispute resolved under the Additional Facility Rules of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for the state of Ukraine. The subject-matter of the dispute involved a claim by an international investor for the confiscation of investments in the amount of USD 25 million. The matter was settled amicably.
Competition Law and Merger Clearance matters
- Striking-off from the List of Monopolistic (Dominant) Entities;
- Strategic planning and replies on inquiries from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) and its territorial departments;
- Advice on compliance with the legislation on the protection of economic competition;
- Legal advice on competition legislation to the Association of Pulp and Paper Industry Enterprises.
- Obtained merger clearance on:
- provision of legal advice in antitrust and unfair competition matters;
- support in the merger clearance process;
- obtaining approvals for concerted actions;
- abuse of the dominant position;
- concerted anticompetitive practices;
- anticompetitive actions by public entities;
- discrimination against competitors/unlawful prevention of competition;
- Advice on the transfer and maintenance of control in a legal entity.
- Consolidation of a supermarket network in Kyiv;
- Acquisition of the controlling stake in a major Ukrainian milk plant;
- Purchasing certain Ukrainian shipyards and aluminum plants;
- Acquisition of the controlling stake in a major fire-bricks producer;
- Establishment of a holding company a major bread-baking and bread processing plants;
- Acquisition of the controlling stake in a domestic power repair producers;
- Acquisition of the controlling stake in the Ukrainian gas equipment producer.
- Support for the cellular telecom operator Mobile Telesystems (Ukraine) in defense against an abuse of the dominant position and collusion action initiated by the AMCU with regard to introduction of the call set-up fee. As a result, the AMCU’s investigation did not result in any penalty for the company.
National Bank of Ukraine Introduces Escrow Accounts
Effective from 21 December 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine (the "NBU") has allowed use of escrow accounts in Ukraine. This appears to be the efforts of the national regulator to implement amendments made to the Civil Code made earlier in 2017. This legislative novelty has been long awaited by the business community.
The new regulations of the NBU now enable Ukrainian banks to open escrow accounts in different currencies for both Ukrainian residents and foreign investors.
While escrow accounts have been introduced primarily to support recent corporate governance reform dealing with squeeze-out and sell-out mechanisms for Ukrainian joint-stock companies, these accounts may be used in many other areas as well.
One of the obvious uses of the escrow accounts is minimizing risks during a transaction with counterparty. Essentially, it helps to balance the rights and interests of the parties, while relying on the services of an escrow agent (for instance a trusted bank). In practice, the use of escrow accounts is employed at most types of M&A and secured lending transactions in Ukraine.
Shkred Attorneys
17 Panasa Myrnogo St. Apt. 26
KYIV 01011
Ukraine
ph: +380-50-297-1988
admin