On 2 October, the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine passed a resolution at its session, under which the cassation appeal of the international ground handling company Swissport International Ltd. (Swissport) was partially satisfied: the decision of the Economic Court of Kyiv of 26 October 2012 and the resolution of Kyiv Appeal Economic Court of 27 March 2013 in favor of Ukraine International Airlines PrJSC (UIA) were cancelled and the case was filed for a new judicial scrutiny to the court of first instance.

DLA Piper Ukraine lawyers have supported Swissport from the conflict's very beginning. They have developed the defense strategy, prepared all necessary procedural documents and represented the client with the courts of all instances. The DLA Piper team headed by Managing Partner Margarita Karpenko consists of Legal Director Alla Kozachenko, Senior Associate Mykhaylo Byelostotskiy and Associate Tetyana Zamedyanskaya.

The court's decision could be viewed as a certain progress towards the resolution of the conflict between UIA and Swissport with regard to the ownership right to the participatory share in the charter capital of the joint venture - Swissport Ukraine LLC (presently, Interavia LLC). The dispute has lasted since 2012 when UIA stated a claim for the forcible entry into the agreement for sale and purchase of Swissport's participatory share comprising 70.6% of the charter capital of Swissport Ukraine LLC and for the recognition of UIA's ownership right to that participatory share. The claim was partially satisfied by the courts of lower instances.

"Unfortunately, the flaws of Ukraine's judicial system have indirectly caused a glaring violation of the corporate rights of a large international investor. We are happy, therefore, that the case has caught attention of broad public and that the client also got support of the Antiraider Committee of Ukraine headed by the First Vice Prime Minister Sergiy Arbuzov. This gives hopes for an equitable resolution. Although the Higher Economic Court's decision has not drawn a line under this dispute, we are happy that the court heard our arguments and agreed with our evaluation of the position of the

lower instance courts. In the future, we see good prospects for the dispute resolution", - comments Margarita Karpenko.