Eva-Maria Shakhmaeva

Qiwi Plc. sold its Russian assets to a Hong Kong based Fusion Factor Fintech Limited owned by Andrey Protopopov, former Qiwi CEO. The 23.75 bn RUB transaction was approved by the Russian regulators and the Qiwi Plc. board of directors. ALRUD team provided Qiwi Plc. with legal support of the transaction, including drafting binding documents and advising on particular regulatory and counter-sanction issues. The ALRUD team was headed by Corporate and M&A Practice Partner Sergey Khanaev and comprised Senior Associate Kristina Akalovich, Senior Associate Natalia Raschevskaya, Senior Associate Roman Vedernikov, Associate Olesya Klesheva, and Associate Eva-Maria Shakhmaeva.

VEON is a major telecommunications operator in the CIS and several Asian countries that provides communications to more than 150 million users every day. VimpelCom (Beeline brand) was previously part of VEON Group. The ALRUD team advised VEON on comprehensive legal support throughout all the stages of the transaction: on the initial stages of the transaction, the ALRUD team advised VEON on general issues related to the structuring of the transaction and advised on the auction sale process with several potential buyers; ALRUD lawyers subsequently supported VEON with negotiating transaction documents with the Russian top management of VimpelCom led by Alexander Torbakhov. This included complex issues associated with structuring the redemption of VEON Eurobonds taking into account Russian and international regulatory restrictions and a disruption in communication between the National Settlement Depository and Euroclear/Clearstream; on the final stages of the transaction, ALRUD represented VEON in negotiating commercial terms of the brand’s division and the operating activities of VEON Group and VimpelCom, as well as in complex issues involving the finalization of the transaction (including interaction with the registrar and broker). Supporting such a major and multi-faceted transaction would not have been possible without the full-service concept of ALRUD law firm. We not only provide comprehensive, high-quality legal assistance, but also integrate our services into our clients’ strategic goals. The ALRUD team that worked on the project under the guidance of Corporate and M&A Practice Partner Sergey Khanaev and Head of the Corporate and M&A Practice Alexander Zharskiy included a cross-functional team from the Corporate, Competition/Antitrust, Commercial/IP and Tax practices: Partner German Zakharov, Senior Associate Anna Grosheva, Senior Associate Ksenia Erokhina, Senior Associate Daniil Lozovsky, Senior Associate Sergey Artemiev, Senior Associate Kristina Akalovich, Associate Eva-Maria Shakhmaeva, Associate Yulia Malchenkova and Associate Olga Yuz.