Helen Kryshtalowych focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, financing and privatization-related projects supporting the Ukrainian government, non-Ukrainian companies and industrial establishments. With experience in new technologies and cross-border projects, she advises global companies in the acquisition of assets and stock of Ukrainian companies, joint ventures, corporate and project finance, mergers and acquisitions, securities, real estate, energy, telecommunications, banking, aviation, privatization and other areas.

Helen advises many Western multinational and regional companies in industries such as agribusiness, automotive, banking, beverages and bottling, communications and multimedia, construction, energy, engineering and heavy manufacturing. She has also negotiated many important project financings for companies in these industries with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as well as representing both borrowers and Western lenders in significant financing transactions.

Helen also represents Ukrainian governmental agencies, legislators and companies in connection with investment projects in Ukraine. She has participated in the Mass Privatization Program in 13 regions in Ukraine, the Telecommunications Restructuring Program and the Private Sector Development Program under EC-TACIS. She advised the State Property Fund on the privatization of Ukraine’s national telephone company and has represented several global and regional conglomerates in the acquisition of significant stakes in Ukraine’s largest GSM operators.

Helen has worked with the State Property Fund, the Ministry of Communications and Transportation, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Cabinet of Ministers on privatization-related programs sponsored by all of the international organizations working in Ukraine. These include the British Know-How Fund, the EBRD, the European Union, the IFC, USAID and the World Bank.

Helen was listed as one of the 10 most prominent women lawyers in Ukraine by Legal Practice, the national professional newspaper, and ranked third by Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers 2007 in corporate/commercial. Practical Law Company’s Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2006 lists her as a highly recommended lawyer in corporate/mergers and acquisitions. She was also recognized as a “Leading Lawyer in Telecoms” by in-house counsel and peers in Guide to the World’s Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers, 3rd Edition.

She is a member of the American Bar Association’s International Law Practice Section, the Ohio State Bar Association and the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s International Law Group.

Szakmai tapasztalat

• Advising a global technology company in its acquisition of an equity stake in a leading Ukrainian technology and software development company.
• Advising a Western European bank in the financing of an energy company.
• Advising a Western European oil and gas company in the acquisition of a significant stake in Ukraine’s largest oil and gas exploration company.
• Advising a Western European investor in the purchase of one of Ukraine’s leading banks.
• Advising a regional mobile service provider in its global US$4.3 billion acquisition regarding acquisition and antitrust issues related to the Ukrainian targets.
• Advising an international financial institution in its US$25 million loan to a Ukrainian oil refining company for the purpose of expanding its filling station network.
• Advising a Western media company in its acquisition of an interest in several Ukrainian television and radio broadcasting companies and newspaper publications including legal due diligence and assistance in structuring the acquisition, as well as providing general Ukrainian law advice.
• Advising several global and regional investors acquiring minority and majority stakes in several different Ukrainian GSM operators including equipment and debt financing.
• Advising a Western European investor in its acquisition of a 51 percent equity stake in a Ukrainian air handling company including legal due diligence, drafting and negotiating the share purchase agreement, the shareholders’ agreement and the charter.
• Advising the State Property Fund in the privatization of Ukraine’s national telephone company, which has 30 regional branches and 373 separate structural subdivisions.
• Advising in the privatization of enterprises in the energy, telecom and industrial sectors on the sell side and the buy side.