Kyiv Hosts an Expert IBA Workshop on “International M&A Trends and Standards”

Vasil Kisil & Partners,
Kyiv, Ukraine, SUnday, June 8, 2014

OnMay 30, 2014, the Arcane Art Gallery successfully hosted an expert seminar "International M&A Trends andStandards". This year, the annual event of the International BarAssociation (IBA) was held in Kyiv, supported by Arzinger and Vasil Kisil& Partners Law Firms. The seminar was very well received by thebusiness community gathering around fifty delegates, including heads ofcompanies and legal departments of large Ukrainian and internationalcorporations, lawyers and sophomore students of law faculties. Featuredspeakers included both European and Ukrainian experts in the field of mergersand acquisitions.  

Thus,workshop attendees heard presentations by J.Freek K. Jonkhart - Partner at Loyens & Loeff, Rotterdam, theNetherlands, Co-Chair of the European Forum, and Rabbe Sittnikow - Partner at Hannes Snellman, Helsinki, Finland,Senior Vice-Chair of the IBA M&A Law Committee. The Ukrainian side wasrepresented by local M&A experts from Arzinger Law Firm Anna Zorya and Partner with Vasil Kisil & Partners Anna Babych. 

The opening remarks weredelivered by Arzinger’s Managing Partner Timur Bondaryev. He welcomed theparticipants and talked about the activities of the International BarAssociation (IBA), emphasizing the important role this organization plays inthe international legal community. 

The first session waspresented by J. Freek K. Jonkhartand Rabbe Sittnikow, who reviewedM&A transactions in private equity, their structure and basicdocuments. 

Then the floor was given toVKP’s Partner Anna Babych whoanalyzed the activity of M&A market in Ukraine and main trends, namelynoting that recently the largest M&A transactions in the Ukrainianmarket were made in sectors such as media market, telecommunications andbanking. Anna drew attention to the fact that M&A activity continuesto focus on the domestic market, since Ukraine is mostly the seller, not thebuyer of foreign assets. In the end of her speech, Ms. Babych answered questions from the audience and summed thesession up by saying: “Today, given thedifficult circumstances in the country, the situation on the Ukrainian M&Amarket is such that transactions that were in process at the end of 2013, arenear completion, but most of potential buyers decided to keep a low profileuntil economic conditions improve and the political processes in the countrystabilizes. Despite that, in 2014 we foresee a positive trend in the bankingsector, agribusiness and retail trade. There is a high probability of recoveryin IT M&A. However, even under these conditions, the dynamic of UkrainianM&A market is unlikely to change this year.’

Arzinger Partner Anna Zorya covered the topic of M&Arelated legal due diligence. The second part of the seminar was conducted intwo parallel sessions. The participants, divided in two equal groups, had theopportunity to participate in one of the discussions. The first dealt with mainprovisions of SPA and other important transactional documents, which wereaddressed in detail by Anna Babychand Freek Jonkhart, while Anna Zorya and Rabbe Sittnikow cover SHA related issues. This format was quitesuccessful, as it allowed each participant of the seminar to ask questions andshare their own experiences.

The event was held in an unconventional setting, atthe Arcane Art Gallery, the firstobjective art gallery and the only one in Ukraine to feature a single artist -Galina Moskvitina, a Ukrainian painter and founder of Laternative Realism, acreative style based on peculiar perception of light and usage of conceptualimages closely associated with notions of light, luminance and luminescence.These paintings that Galina herself calls “Svetangs”, despite their unusualContemporary Àrt style, have attracted the attention of foreign galleries andthe world's largest auction house MacDougall's and Bonhams when they wereexhibited as part of the "Code of Light" world tour (Milan, London,Tel Aviv, New York). Participants had the opportunity to view with new works ofGalina Moskvitina series “Sings of light” and “Celestial flow”, which wererecently presented in Hay Hill Gallery (London).

Arcane Art Gallery is a space where theobjective painting in art-session format is combined with other forms of artcreating synergy. To date, the gallery became not only a venue for importantart events, but also a great communication platform for the business elite,which contributes to the consolidation of art and business communities topromote Ukrainian art both in Ukraine and abroad.