The CIS LCN is a joint winner of 2010 IFLR “M&A deal of the Year” Award
Dear colleagues and friends,
We are happy to inform you that on 23 March 2011, CIS LCN (and our firm as its member) was chosen as the joint winner of a prestigious IFLR 2010 “M&A Deal of the Year” Award for its role in Danone-Unimilk merger. The IFLR 2010 Awards have chosen a team of legal advisers, including Aequitas, who worked on the deal and demonstrated high quality legal advice combined with outstanding customer service and coordination.
The CIS LCN is a joint winner of 2010 IFLR “M&A deal of the Year” Award
March 23, 2011 – The CIS LCN has been chosen as the joint winner of a prestigious IFLR 2010 “M&A deal of the year” Award for its role in Danone-Unimilk merger. The IFLR 2010 Awards have chosen a team of legal advisers who worked on the deal and demonstrated high quality legal advice combined with outstanding customer service and coordination.
Danone and Unimilk have finalized the merger of their Fresh Dairy Product businesses in Russia and other CIS member countries in November 2010. The new entity would span the operations across Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine as well as create opportunities for further expansion and will account for around 21% of the total market with currently estimated sales of over USD 2.4bn.
Danone’s legal advisers in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan were member firms of the CIS Leading Counsel Network (CIS LCN), a network of leading law firms providing integrated legal advice across the CIS region: Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners (Russia), Vlasova, Mikhel & Partners (Belarus), Aequitas (Kazakhstan), RULG (Ukraine) and FINA (Azerbaijan). Other members of the CIS LCN were involved in relation to the merger control and compliance check in CIS jurisdictions, namely Kalikova & Associates in Kyrgyz Republic, Turcan Cazac in Moldova and Ameria CJCS in Armenia
The key challenges of the deal were its multijurisdictional nature and the need for careful, thorough and consistent communication between all parties involved. Unlike previous multijurisdictional deals in the region which were advised mostly by major international firms with offices across the region, the Danone/Unimilk deal was largely completed by the leading local law firms, members of the CIS LCN.
The shortlisted firms have been thoroughly researched by an independent team looking at service range, advice quality, geographical location, how the business is run and the expertise each team can offer to companies that operate in their chosen jurisdiction.
The CIS LCN’s success underlines the network’s unyielding commitment to modern, innovative and transparent principles and continuous demonstration of the quality seamless service offered to clients by its talented and highly competent team.
