Asters acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. London Branch, ING Bank N.V. and SACE, an Italian export credit agency, in connection with the restructuring of Interpipe's debt portfolio of USD 887 million. Interpipe is one of Ukraine's largest producers of pipe products and railway wheels, supplied to more than 80 countries all over the world through a chain of commercial offices located in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Europe, the USA and the Middle East.

The restructuring terms provide for the repayment of restructured debt by 2017. Completion of the restructuring will allow Interpipe to improve its financial position and to enter into the testing and commissioning phase of Dneprosteel, the biggest electric arc furnace facility in Eastern Europe having a capacity of 1.32 million tons per year.

Asters team working on this project included partner Iryna Pokanay and associates Gabriel Aslanian, Yulia Spolitak and Oksana Muntyan. The deal demonstrated the depth and breadth of the team's capability to advise on and execute a transaction of a complex nature (project finance/export finance) that garnered a great deal of attention in the industry.

* * *

Asters is a full-service independent national law firm. With more than 15 years of experience the firm has one of the longest track records on the country's young legal market. Asters is among the most recommended law firms for Ukraine according to reputable international legal directories The Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer?, Chambers Global, IFLR 1000, and Ukraine's legal market research publications. A list of the firm's clients includes major international corporations, such as Boeing, Coca-Cola, Marathon Oil, Miele, News Corp., New Line Cinema, Nissan Motor, Nokia Corporation, Philip Morris, Renault, Telenor ASA, Toshiba Corporation, and the world's leading financial institutions ABN AMRO, Barclays Capital, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, EBRD, IFC, ING Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Standard Bank, Swedbank and the World Bank.