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Protecting the interests of the majority of shareholders in the Lenta retail chain in a corporate dispute involving VTB and TPG Capital

In this particular case, our client’s opposition to other shareholders in the Lenta retail chain to the candidate for the position of CEO escalated into a corporate dispute, covering a number of jurisdictions.

Our team of lawyers coordinated the legal team’s work to enhance the effect of investigating foreign disputes (BVI, UK) for judicial proceedings in Russia, and it also represented the client’s interests in all proceedings in Russia, with the dispute concluding with one of the largest M&A deals in the Russian retail sector.

Protecting a client’s interests in a corporate dispute in a well-known retail chain in Russia

A breach of obligations by the client’s counterparties in an M&A deal led to a significant violation of its property rights.

The opposition also initiated a number of court proceedings not connected with the deal in an attempt to force the client to withdraw the proceedings. The team of lawyers devised a comprehensive strategy for the judicial protection of the client’s interests, encompassing all instigated and potential judicial proceedings.

Representation of a client in a dispute with energy industry entities

In this case, our client’s counterparties had been incorrectly calculating payment for supplied energy over a considerable period.

They had been concealing the actual circumstances, which had a serious impact on the amount of payment. The dispute was further complicated by the fact that fundamental evidence was in the hands of the opposition. Our lawyers established a procedural position in the dispute whereby the opposing party’s refusal to disclose the relevant evidence was interpreted as its admission of the corresponding circumstances.

Representation of a client in a dispute with a structural unit of the Russian Ministry of Healthcare

Our client did not receive payment for supplying medicine.

The opposing party attempted to prove in court that the medicine was of a substandard quality and sought to establish this fact through an out-of-court procedure intended to remove the medicine from circulation, having failed to pass the mandatory control and certification procedures. The team of lawyers at Pen & Paper represented the client in lawsuits, seeking to recover contractual payments and eventually achieving reconciling of the parties.

Representation of a foreign company in a dispute on recovery of USD 146 million

The opposing side filed applications in over 10 regions in Russia, seeking to enforce an arbitration ruling of the London Court of International Arbitration under which USD 146 million was sought from the client.

Our lawyers at Pen & Paper established a procedural strategy to counter all initiated judicial disputes, resulting with the ruling being dropped in all the regions in question.

Protecting a foreign company’s interests in a corporate dispute in a Russian company

In this case, our client had lost corporate control over a company which owned extremely valuable property in central Moscow.

The loss of this asset involved the falsification of documents and was followed by further unlawful corporate actions. Pen & Paper implemented a corporate rights instrument in order  to protect the client’s corporate rights, thereby rendering ineffective the efforts of the opposing side. It also incorporated lawsuits into the strategy, which, rather than being linked with the restoration of these rights, posed significant risks for the opposing side.