WORKSHOP

AGRIBUSINESS 2018:

LEGAL TOOLS OF SOLVING RELEVANT ISSUES

(September 28, 2018)

Hosted by ALEXANDROV & PARTNERS law firm

 

The participants of the workshop were greeted by the head of the Department of Criminology and Penitentiary Law of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University Bohdan Holovkin.

Speakers:

Dmytro Aleksandrov,  senior partner of ALEXANDROV & PARTNERS, attorney,  presented the topic: “The Land Market: Current State and Prospects of Opening.” The coach suggested the following questions for discussion:

  • What does the IMF prescribe concerning the land reform?
  • ECHR: Moratorium – Human Rights Violations
  • Grey zone of the existing land market
  • How to purchase land after opening a market?
  • The role of a lawyer in the sale of land process
  • How to prepare for market opening?

Oksana Kryzhanivska, senior partner of ALEXANDROV & PARTNERS, attorney, covered the topic “Pre-Sale Preparation of an Agro-Enterprise. Preparation of an Agro- Enterprise for Recruitment of Investors”:

1) The potential of Ukrainian agrobusiness in attracting investors; entrance of foreign investors to the Ukrainian agrarian markets; 

2) What does the investor need:

  • Requirements to the structure of business
  • Requirements to financial indicators

3) The role of the pre-sale audit of the agro-enterprise.

4) How and what can attract an investor in the business.

5) Peculiarities of working with different types of investors (with business partners, lenders, and buyers):

  • IPO
  • IFC & EBRD
  • Private international funds
  • Private business

6) “Bottleneck ” places in:

  • selling agrobusiness
  •  additional fund raising

7) Use of non-resident companies in business purchase and sale transactions and in the course of attracting investments.

Oleksandr Ruchko, partner of АLEXANDROV&PARTNERS , attorney, gave two lectures.

The subject of the first one was “Combatting illegal takeover”, in which the trainer covered the following questions:

  • Illegal takeover — a real threat to agrobusiness;
  •  Modern cases of attacks on agrobusiness;
  •  How to act during a raider attack;
  • Illegal takeover counteracting audit as an effective way of protection.

The second lecture covered the issue of the management of the land bank. The lawyer explained the following:

  • Land Bank: what does this concept includs and does not include when it comes to agricultural enterprise;
  • Lease of land: tactics of protecting tenant rights in the process of concluding and extending lease agreements;
  • Emphyteuses – the solution for those who are not waiting for the lifting of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land.
  • Alternative legal structures in working with the land bank.

Director of the Department of Tax and Law of Baker Tilly, Tetiana Stretovych   dedicated her speech to the concept of the beneficiary owner. The lecturer touched on the following issues:

  • Beneficiary owner;
  • Global trend – transparency;
  • Automatic information exchange;
  • Global base of beneficiaries;
  • “Antidumping” measures – finding a balance between the protection of beneficiaries’ rights and transparency.

Outcome: more than 50 participants took part in the workshop, more than half of them were legal practitioners and practicing lawyers.