Asters advises RAG (Rohöl-Aufsuchungs Aktiengesellschaft) in connection with establishment of a joint venture for the purposes of exploration, development, production, transportation and selling of hydrocarbons in Western Ukraine.

RAG is an oil and gas company with headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Its core areas of business are oil and natural gas exploration and production, and gas storage. In the past few years RAG has added to its exploration and production acreage, and its operations now extend to Germany, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine. With over 30 years of experience and the continuing massive expansion in operations in recent years RAG now ranks amongst the leading storage operators in Europe.

Asters provided advice within all stages of setting up, funding and business activity of the Ukrainian operator, Ukrainian-law merger clearance of the joint venture establishment as well as advised in connection to the joint management agreement between the parties.

Asters' team working on the project was led by partner Roman Kostenko and included associates Viktoriya Demydenko and Roman Drobotskiy. The competition team was headed by partner Igor Svechkar.

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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 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.