Russia > Legal market overview
Russia’s legal market is dominated by large international law firms, although home-grown law firm Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners is notable for its size and prestige, and recently enhanced its status regionally by absorbing the well-regarded Ukrainian firm, Magisters.
The opportunities to be had in this challenging market meant that new finance became available more quickly than in many markets after the financial crisis hit. In Russia, restructuring and insolvency work began winding down as early as spring 2010. As the markets reopened, export credit agencies (ECAs) and multilateral banks provided the initial flow of new-money financings with new financings without ECA support appearing by mid-2010. The syndicated loan market has also showed signs of recovery with the most prominent international lenders including BNP Paribas, ING, and Raiffeisen, and with Russian banks such as Vnesheconombank (VEB), VTB and Sberbank also active.
Capital markets experienced a resurgence in late 2010 and on into 2011. Debt transactions became accessible for high-quality issuers. The equity side is taking longer to revive but a number of IPOs postponed due to the financial crisis did return to market.
In corporate and M&A, there has been a spike of activity not only in the energy and natural resources sector but also noticeably in the TMT, retail and consumer markets.
An important development for foreign companies operating in Russia and the CIS to be cognisant of, as well as local companies listed on foreign stock exchanges, is the enactment of the UK Bribery Act in July 2011, which has extra-jurisdictional reach.
The public private partnership (PPP) space has great potential, but growth has hitherto been stunted by the government’s rather inflexible approach and a lack of governing legislation. Currently most activity is enacted on a regional rather than federal basis.
In real estate, there has been a revival in interest from foreign investors and international banks with cash reserves, but the market has been primarily led by Russian investors doing deals supported by Russian banks. The number of greenfield and brownfield projects also increased considerably and the retail sector has been particularly buoyant.