INTEGRITES has acted as Ukrainian counsel to KNDS, a major German-French defence contractor, on the establishment of a joint venture with a Ukrainian partner. The joint venture will be responsible for the maintenance, refurbishment and overhaul of Gepards, self-propelled air defence systems.
The scope of the advice included the structuring of the joint venture, the development of corporate governance rules, merger control, tax and customs and corporate law issues.
Senior Partner, Dr. Julian Ries: "This is a very special project for us as its success directly translates into increased defence capabilities for Ukraine. It’s one of the rare cases when one's own security depends on the outcome of a project. This gave our team additional motivation to do everything possible to accomplish it.”
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are already operating the Gepard and there is a need for proper maintenance and repair. The establishment of such a facility on Ukrainian territory is expected to reduce logistics costs and time and enable the return of serviced Gepards to the battlefield much faster.
Led by senior partners Dr. Julian Ries, Illya Tkachuk and Vyacheslav Korchev, the team working on the project included partner Viktoriya Fomenko, counsel Nataliya Kovalyova and Vasyl Yurmanovych, and junior associate Diana Kostina.