The Legal 500

Allen & Overy Legal Services is ‘one of the best in the market in financing’. It advised an 18-bank syndicate, including Bank of America and WestLB, on a $350m facility for the privately owned Promsvyazbank. The departure of highly regarded counsel Dmitry Shiryaev for SNR Denton was mitigated by the recruitment of Igor Gorchakov from Baker & McKenzie – CIS, Limited in April 2012. Practice head Stephen Matthews, Elena Tchoubykina and senior associate Veronika Kodruseva are recommended.

Clifford Chance’s team, which is ‘excellent in all areas’, continues be a go-to firm for lenders. A team of Moscow and London lawyers advised a syndicate including ING and Sberbank on a $4.74bn pre-export refinancing facility for UC Rusal. Another cross-office team acted for Sberbank and VTB Capital on a RUB117bn facility to finance the acquisition of shares in one of Russia’s largest transport companies. Practice head Logan Wright is ‘great with the local market participants’, and counsel Vladimir Barbolin is also highly recommended.

Linklaters CIS was again highly active on the lender side of high-value financings, including sizeable real estate transactions and restructurings. Highlights for Michael Botts’ team included advising Citibank and Société Générale as arrangers of a $1.5bn facility for Norilsk Nickel; and Raven Russia as borrower of a $129m loan facility to buy a warehouse complex outside Moscow. Other clients include BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

Baker Botts L.L.P.’s ‘truly exceptional’ team advised SUEK on obtaining a $1.3bn pre-export financing – one of the largest such facilities made available in 2011. The firm also acted on several notable aviation and real estate financings. Maxim Levinson is ‘very experienced and has an outstanding reputation’; he co-heads the practice with London-based Rubin Weston. Newly promoted partner Konstantin Garmonin ‘provides reliable and professional support’.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer mixed lender and borrower work in 2012. Mikhail Loktionov’s team advised Russian Railways on obtaining a CHF920m loan facility from J.P. Morgan, and acted for Gazprombank on a major financing and, separately, a debt conversion. Both Gazprom deals were handled by corporate head Dmitry Surikov.

Herbert Smith Freehills CIS LLP’s energy and PPP-focused practice acted for Barclays as agent on a $470m syndicated loan to state oil and gas giant Rosneft. The firm also advised Eni and the project company Shtokman Development on two major upstream oil and gas developments. Senior associate Ragnar Johannesen is ‘experienced, pragmatic and lethal when the gloves are off’’. Edward Baring replaced Alexander Currie as head of banking and finance locally after the latter relocated to the firm’s Dubai office.

Norton Rose (Central Europe) LLP’s expertise covers most areas including syndicated lending, asset and real estate finance. In keeping with its reputation in the energy and natural resources sectors, the firm advised SeverEnergy on a RUB90bn facility delivered within a very tight timeframe and conducted under Russian law. Practice head Alexander Tsakoev is ‘a very effective negotiator’.

The following entry reflects historical text for Salans, which merged into Dentons : Salans ‘always meets deadlines no matter how tough they are’. The firm represents lenders, borrowers and project companies, and is particularly experienced in representing multilateral banks; team head Timothy Stubbs’ ‘previous EBRD experience makes him really qualified in banking from inside’ as he spent a two–year sabbatical in the EBRD office in London. Recent work includes advising Russian regional body Belkomur on a feasibility study for the PPP financing of a 1,200km railway line from Arhangelsk to Perm.

White & Case LLC advised the Russian lenders – Sberbank, Gazprombank and VTB – on the $3bn SeverEnergy financing, which was structured under Russian law. It also acted for private bank Promsvyazbank as borrower of its $350m syndicated facility from WestLB and Bank of America. Maxim Kobzev advised Russian corporate Mechel on obtaining a syndicated $350m pre-export financing facility. Thomas McDonald replaced Irina Nesvetova as team head after the latter accepted an in-house role in summer 2012.

Alrud Law Firm’s ‘flexible, smart and experienced’ team advises multinational banks, multilaterals and corporate borrowers, and has recently been acting on various real estate and export financings. Practice head Alexander Zharskiy advised a major Asian bank on securities for the provision of credit lines to a multinational automotive company. The team also advised Eurasian Development Bank on amendments to a $69m development finance facility. Senior partner Vassily Rudomino is highly respected and of counsel Anton Dzhuplin is also recommended.

Baker & McKenzie – CIS, Limited’s ‘flexible and highly professional’ team has been active in real estate, energy and construction financing. It advised the sponsor, LLC City Palace, on the $345m financing of the development of Evolution Tower in Moscow’s business district and, among several energy-related deals, advised the lenders on a $200m facility made available to a subsidiary of Kinross to develop the Kupol gold and silver mine in Chukotka. Practice head Vladimir Druganov is recommended.

CMS’ work includes real estate and project financings and restructurings. Konstantin Baranov is advising the project company on a $2bn infrastructure project, and team head Karen Young is advising a Russian bank on the restructuring of existing debt. Young and associates Olga Yudina and Oksana Kostenko ‘are very professional lawyers with good knowledge in real estate transactions’.

Jennifer Handz heads Chadbourne & Parke LLP’s team, which regularly advises lenders and borrowers on high-end transactions. Handz advised EBRD on its RUB1.7bn loan to Guardian to develop the Guardian Rostov float glass plant project. Konstantin Konstantinov assisted Alfa-Bank, Polyus Gold and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi with various banking and finance matters.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP acts on some impressive high-end transactions in support of its better-known capital markets and corporate teams. Scott Senecal advised Tatneft on a $550m financing with associated hedging of the lender syndicate’s fixed rate exposure; and Yulia Solomakhina acted as part of a cross-office team that advised Alrosa on its $1.1bn purchase of Russian oil and gas companies and the related financing.

DLA Piper acts on the financing of an impressive range of project, real estate and energy transactions. Vyacheslav Khorovskiy’s team advised Eurasian Development Bank on its $100m loan to finance the reconstruction of a power plant in the Chechen Republic. Khorovskiy also advised Inter RAO, Bank of Moscow and Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus) on a RUB2.5bn facility to fund payments due under a Russian company’s notes issuance.

Largely occupying a different space to the international firms, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners’ banking and finance practice spans insolvency, disputes and restructurings for bank clients, and government advisory work. The team has strong experience in advising state-owned giants, such as UC Rusal, on restructuring of their debt obligations after the financial crisis and has also been involved in some of the biggest state bank transactions in recent years. The firm has also been advising two multinational banks on local banking issues. Arkady Krasnikhin and Roman Malovitsky are the key contacts.

Gide Loyrette Nouel acts for lenders and borrowers, and the team recently advised Russian Post as borrower of a €45m export finance facility backed by SACE. On the lender side, it acted for Société Générale on its $67.5m facility to gold mining giant Polyus. Practice head Grigory Marinichev leads on most deals and is recommended. Senior counsel and finance specialist Tim Theroux joined the firm in September 2011.

Hogan Lovells (CIS)’ ‘very capable’ team has a particularly strong reputation in ECA and pre-export finance, and has acted on several of the biggest such deals in Russia in recent years. The firm regularly represents VTB and Sberbank, and recently advised the latter on lending a $2bn facility to Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation. Other clients include Bayerische Landesbank, Raiffeisenbank and ING. Practice head Alexander Rymko is recommended.

King & Spalding LLP’s ‘first-rate’ team acts on a wide variety of high-value deals for clients including Citigroup and GV Gold, the latter of which the firm advised on a $100m equity deal with the EBRD. Managing partner Sergey Komolov is recommended.

The following entry reflects historical text for SNR Denton, which merged into Dentons: Dentons recently recruited highly regarded counsel Dmitry Shiryaev from Allen & Overy Legal Services to boost its finance capabilities. Clients have included Eximbank, VEB and VTB.