A new
standing point.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the new law firm ALUMNI Partners. ALUMNI Partners is a big, experienced team that, until recently, represented Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in Russia.
The name ALUMNI Partners was no random choice. Behind this name is an energetic team with 20 years’ experience on the Russian legal market. Over those years, we have grown and developed, handled complex projects, strengthened our positions in the rankings, and managed to retain and increase client confidence and rally together a team of talented lawyers. Our expertise and experience are highly valued by our clients and well respected in the Russian legal world.

We are a team united not only by our business culture, reputation and expertise in Russian and international law, and our renowned client service, but also by being “alumni” of the international legal consulting business in Russia, enjoying an outstanding track record and legacy.

ALUMNI Partners remains one of Russia’s biggest full-service law firms specialising in all key legal dimensions.

ALUMNI Partners law firm
We are confident that the extensive experience, client focus and flexible approach of our unique and outstanding professional team will ensure top quality legal service. We are equally sure that our clients’ trust and loyalty will maintain our profile on the Russian legal market.
Expertise
Corporate / M&A
Compliance
Commercial
Business Restructuring
Banking & Finance
Antitrust & Competition
Tax Consulting / Tax Litigation
Dispute Resolution
Intellectual Property
Employment, Pensions & Benefits
Environmental
ESG Compliance
Infrastructure / Public-private partnership (PPP)
Insolvency & Bankruptcy
Private Client
International Arbitration
Sanctions Advisory Services
Real Estate & Construction
International Trade, Forex And Customs
White Collar Criminal Defence
TMT (Telecom, media, technologies)
Legal support for foreign direct investment projects in Russia
Currency Regulation
Years’ experience on the Russian legal market
20
Associates
90+
Partners
14
Of the firm's lawyers are included in the Best Lawyers 2022 rating and are recommended in 44 practice areas
50+
Important numbers
Partner
Real Estate & Construction, Corporate/ M&A
Partner
International Arbitration, Cross-Border Litigation
Partner
Dispute Resolution
Managing Partner, PhD (Law)
Antitrust & Competition
Partner, PhD (Law)
Corporate / M&A, TMT
Partner, PhD (Law)
Antitrust & Competition, International Trade, Forex And Customs
Partner
Banking & Finance
Partner
Head of Employment Practice, Inheritance Law and Estate Planning, Advocate
Partner
Corporate / M&A
Partner
Real Estate & Construction
Partner
Corporate / M&A
Head of Central Asia
Partner
Banking & Finance
Partner
Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, Advocate, Patent Attorney
Partner
Real Estate & Construction
"Strong team with great experience"
— The Legal 500, 2021.
Partners
Partners
"Strong team with great experience"
— The Legal 500 2021
Clients
& experience*
HeadHunter Group
Joom
Advised Joom SIA on buying a 10% stake in on-line shopping platform iGooods, the biggest turnover retail food delivery service.
Advised Da Vinci Capital, a leading emerging markets private equity firm, on investing in DataArt, a leading global technology consultancy that designs and develops unique software solutions for supporting company growth momentum in key industries.
Da Vinci Capital
Advised HeadHunter Group on acquiring the Zarplata.ru job classifieds platform from Hearst Shkulev (a joint venture of the US Hearst media conglomerate).
Mubadala Investment Company, Sberbank Investment
Advised a consortium including Mubadala Investment Company and Sberbank Investments on its investment in IXCellerate Group, a leading commercial data centre operator and a home of hypercloud in Russia, which raised about USD 190 m in financing from both existing and new investors.
Sberbank
Advised Sberbank on the recently completed sale of debt and equity in Eurocement Group, following an electronic auction, to the winning bidder – Mikhaylovsky Construction Materials Plant – for an aggregate consideration of RUB 161 bn – positively viewed by Sberbank: “Unique in terms of size and structure, the transaction is unprecedented on the Russian market. It has been closed through an open and transparent market procedure during which its participants raised their bids over 40 times.”
Kuzbassenergo
VPE Capital
Supporting VPE Capital, an international investment company that manages the PE fund Kazakhstan Infrastructure Fund C.V., in a project to develop and let around 25,000 sq m of warehouse premises in the first phase of a bigger plan to construct up to 100,000 sq m of Class A warehouses in Kazakhstan.
Advised and represented the client in a dispute with Nefte Petroleum Limited in relation to their joint venture Yargeo, the Yarudeyskoye oil field operator in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. The project involved us providing legal assistance to the client at the pre-trial dispute resolution stage and representing NOVATEK before the first instance and appeal courts, which considered the claims for Nefte Petroleum Limited to be excluded from Yargeo LLC. Our client's claims were granted in full, following which, during the appeal proceedings, the parties reached an amicable agreement.
NOVATEK
Advised Kuzbassenergo, a subsidiary of Siberian Generating Company, which is a leading operator on the Russian electricity and thermal energy market, on acquiring the Reftinskaya GRES coal-fired power plant from Enel Russia.
Vezet Group
Gett
Advising Gett on raising a USD 100 m venture loan from Sberbank Investments as well as subsequent debt and equity rounds.
Investment in mezzanine financing provided to Ultramar Terminal for a project to construct an industrial and logistics centre for storing and transhipping mineral fertilisers and general cargo on Ust-Luga Bay, as well as on further equity investment by a new project sponsor. Our mandate also included advice on financing Sberbank provided for this project.
Sberbank Investments
Advised Vezet Group on sale of its call centres and cargo business to the MLU B.V. ride-sharing and food delivery joint venture of Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ and MOEX: YNDX) and Uber International C.V., for a purchase price of up to USD 178 m.
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG
Advised Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG on legal aspects of laying the Russian part of the Russia-EU gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea: forestry and farm land use limitations, land allocation, change of land category, environmental aspects, water use and protection, government and international matters, public procedures, construction, regulatory, permits and licences, etc.
Comprehensive legal advice on the project for construction of the South/TurkStream Offshore Pipeline from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea: land use and acquisition, change of land category, public procedures, environmental aspects, international and corporate law, project finance, construction, permits and authorisations, etc.
South/TurkStream Offshore Pipeline
Comprehensive legal support on the USD 1 bn reconstruction of Sheremetyevo International Airport: construction of a cargo and two passenger terminals, demolition of an old terminal and construction of a unique transport tunnel under two runways to connect the passenger terminals. Also advised on supply of passenger and luggage transport equipment and relocation of existing utilities and infrastructure, and provided support for construction of a new fuelling facility. Advised the client on airport asset consolidation, project finance and privatisation processes, corporate, financial, antimonopoly and tax aspects, invluding on on restructuring a USD 222 m syndicated facility arranged by international and Russian banks.
Obolenskoe Pharm, a leading Russian pharmaceutical company
Advised on a RUB 15.5 bn (approx. USD 240 m) investment sale of a controlling stake in Obolenskoe Pharm, a leading Russian pharmaceutical company. The stake was acquired by Sistema (LSE: SSA, MOEX: AFKS), a big diversified Russian holding company, jointly with VTB Bank, from Alvansa Ltd, a holding company controlled by Gazprombank and UFG Private Equity.
Sberbank Investments and RCIF
Advised Sberbank Investments and Russia-China Investment Fund on a RUB 1.6 bn investment structured as a syndicated venture loan in Eruditor Group holding, owner of the leading Russian professional services marketplace Profi and Zoon information service.
Russia's sovereign wealth fund
JV structure
Advised a JV structure (Vi Holding, RDIF and other sovereign wealth funds from China and the Middle East, including RCIF, the Silk Road Fund, and Mubadala) on a series of EPC contracts and related documentation for Tushino Waterfront Mixed-Use Development (the biggest innovation cluster in Russia, including residential properties, stadium, sports and social infrastructure, research and educational facilities, and recreation zones of approximately 1 million sq. m) with investment of circ. USD 1.5 bn.
Advised Capital Group on acquiring a site from the Moscow Government and a joint venture in connection with development of a multi-use complex located on Balchug Island (also known as Golden Island) in the very centre of Moscow with investment of circ. USD 600 m.
Capital Group
Advising a Russian sovereign wealth fund on entering into a joint venture with Bpifrance, France’s sovereign wealth fund, and Schneider Electric to provide energy efficiency technical solutions, as well as on entering into a separate joint venture with France's Schneider Electric for solutions in automation and digital transformation of energy management
MTT Group
Advised MTT Group on selling 100% of the shares in MTT, one of the top-10 biggest telecom companies in Russia and a leading provider of intelligent connectivity solutions for businesses, to Mobile TeleSystems PJSC. This asset was purchased for RUB 5 bn.
Mubadala Investment Company
Advised Mubadala Investment Company and its co-investor, a large investment fund, on a USD 21 m venture investment in Borzo (ex-Dostavista). The total volume of the C investment round was USD 35 m.
Tinkoff Bank
Mechel Group
Advising Mechel Group on restructuring its indebtedness to Gazprombank and VTB in connection with sale of Elga Coal Complex (one of the world’s largest coal deposits), involving amendments to the finance and security documentation, and a 10-year extension of the debt maturity worth approx. USD 6 bn.
Advising Sberbank Investments on circa USD 75 m facilities for recapitalisation of infrastructure and IT investments of Baring Vostok funds.
Sberbank Investments
Advised Tinkoff Bank on the biggest ever office lease on the Moscow commercial real estate market: drafting and negotiating the future property lease for the office space in the building located in the centre of Moscow to accommodate Tinkoff’s headquarters, including all its core subdivisions, such as Tinkoff Bank, Tinkoff Insurance, Tinkoff Mobile, Tinkoff Development Center, etc.
Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK)
We assisted the client in developing and drafting a Code of Conduct.
Sberbank
Advising Sberbank in connection with restructuring a USD 550.6m indebtedness of a major East-European energy holding.
Vyksa Steel Works
Main Road
Represented Main Road in an administrate case initiated by the FAS of Russia against the company for not complying with the toll charges cap set by the Government. This case would have jeopardized all the toll roads PPPs that were formed before 2016. As a result the FAS closed the case for the lack of infringement. Had the case been lost, it would have entailed a significant consequences for the client and the market itself.
Representing RusHydro in a complex investment arbitration against the Kyrgyz Republic for recovery of USD 37 m invested in construction and operation of the Upper-Naryn hydroelectric power plant cascade.
RusHydro
Represented Vyksa Steel Works (VSW), the biggest domestic manufacturer of steel welded pipes and railway wheels, part of United Metallurgic Company, in the antitrust case on the grounds of monopolistically high prices for railway wheels, as well as the court challenge to the decision on violation by VSW of Clause 1 Part 1 Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition and order of the FAS Russia. In December 202, the Moscow Commercial Court fully overturned the FAS Russia decision and order.
Major Russian state-owned banks
Over recent years, at various times, we have been the sole consultant for two top-10 Russian banks and a Russian state corporation providing advice on all US and EU sanction programmes.
In conjunction with foreign colleagues, we also advised banks, international financial institutions operating in Russia and major companies in a variety of industries on the impact of sanctions on existing structures and transactions, structuring new deals subject to compliance with sanction restrictions and cooperating with government authorities on the sanctions issue (in each case, with regard to the sanctions imposed by the USA, Canada and/or the EU or counter-sanctions under Russian law).
Tatneft
We represented Tatneft Group as a third party supporting the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service in a court dispute with a dominant supplier over challenging a warning, a decision and an instruction issued by the antitrust body (case No. А40-207440/2019, А40-153980/2019). Outcome: the courts declared all these acts to be lawful. Currently, our lawyers are acting for the client in seeking an unjust enrichment from the dominant supplier.
Double Data
Acted for Skolkovo resident Double Data specialising in Big Data solutions for finance companies in a high-profile, precedent-setting dispute with the VKontakte social network over use of Big Data and the way search engines work. This is one of the most talked about and high-profile IP/IT and Big Data litigations in recent years and is also the first ever dispute in Russia over intellectual rights to publicly accessible web data (database) generated by users themselves, rather than the website owner.
Rusagro Group
Acted for Rusagro Group LLC (a managing entity within the Rusagro Group) in a dispute over recovery in the client’s favour of RUB 1 m in damages from Agrosnabsakhar LLC, belonging to the TRIO Group, one of the biggest land-users in the Lipetsk Region. During the litigation, our lawyers managed to uphold a position on complicated matters of interpretation of the offer and acceptance sent by the parties, the question whether the agreement was actually concluded and the reasonableness of the price of the substitute transactions.
SICK
We represented SICK in a dispute with the Customs over tariff classification of 2D laser scanners supplied by our client to the Russian market. The Customs insisted that the imported scanners were distance meters, while our position was that the scanners were an independent kind of measuring and control instrument.
We managed to collect a substantial body of evidence in this case and came up with sufficient legal arguments for the court in support of our position, including with reference to foreign enforcement practices.
As a result, we prevailed in the first, appellate and cassation instances of judicial proceedings and persuaded the court that the Customs’ approach to the tariff classification of 2D laser scanners did not have a basis in law.
Advised a consortium including Mubadala Investment Company and Sberbank Investments on its investment in IXCellerate Group, a leading commercial data centre operator and a home of hypercloud in Russia, which raised about USD 190 m in financing from both existing and new investors.
*Our partners' and lawyers' experience (including before ALUMNI Partners)
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    Headquarters
    Moscow City International Business Centre, Capital City Complex (South Entrance), floor 14, 8, Presnenskaya Nab., Bldg. 1, Moscow, 123112, Russia
    +7 (495) 968-8-968
    info@alumnipartners.ru

    Kazakhstan branch
    Ken Dala Business Center, 38 Dostyk Avenue, 4th floor, Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan
    almaty@alumnipartners.ru
    © 2023 ALUMNI Partners
    "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth"
    — Archimedes