June 2021 – Kinstellar’s Kyiv office has acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in connection with a local currency loan equivalent to USD 65 million to Datagroup, a leading national fibre infrastructure and digital services provider in Ukraine, to finance primarily its acquisition of Volia, the country’s leading pay-TV and cable broadband service provider in the retail segment. According to the EBRD’s press release, this financing for Datagroup has set a benchmark for the Bank in Ukraine, becoming the largest EBRD loan in Ukraine’s TMT sector to date.

Kinstellar’s team advised on a wide range of matters inherent in acquisition finance deals – financial assistance, disbursement mechanics, enforcement against various assets (including future assets) and creation of second-ranking security.

Andriy Nikiforov (Counsel, Banking & Finance, TMT), who led Kinstellar’s team advising on the transaction, comments: “We were delighted to act for EBRD on this deal, which is one of just a few acquisition finance transactions ever done in Ukraine and thus required bespoke if not innovative legal solutions. Our client benefited from our team’s financial product expertise and telecom and digital services industry focus.”

Kinstellar’s team included Iryna Nikolayevska (Partner, Corporate), Oleg Matiusha (Counsel, Real Estate), Anna Makedonska (Senior Associate, Banking & Finance), Yulia Eismont (Senior Associate, Competition, TMT), Yulia Palaida (Associate, Banking & Finance, Corporate), Diana Malysh (Associate, Real Estate), Mariana Antonovych (Associate, Dispute Resolution) and Olena Kandya (Junior Associate, Corporate).

The EBRD is the largest institutional investor in Ukraine. In the past two years alone, the bank has committed EUR 2 billion to the economy. Investments are combined with support for policies that promote the fight against corruption, good governance of state-owned enterprises, structural reforms and a more transparent business environment.

Datagroup is majority owned by a fund managed by Horizon Capital, a leading private equity firm in emerging Europe, backed by over 40 institutional investors with a capital base of over USD 350 billion, managing four funds with assets under management of over USD 1.1 billion and a tenure of 27 years in the region. The firm is a growth equity investor, backing visionary entrepreneurs leading transformational businesses in Ukraine and the near region.

For more information please contact Andriy Nikiforov, Counsel, at andriy.nikiforov@kinstellar.com.