The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) has announced a tender process to hire an international legal advisor to advise the company during the process of restructuring its foreign debt.
Ukrzaliznytsia announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
"The company must resolve the issue of debt obligations that have been accumulating since 2012, totaling more than USD 1 billion. To that end, an international legal advisor is being engaged through a tender," the statement said.
The debt obligations in question amount to more than USD 1 billion and were initially incurred before the 2012 infrastructure projects and subsequently refinanced.
According to the company, all its international loans are formalized under foreign legislation, primarily English law.
"To facilitate this, it is necessary to engage a top-tier law firm that specializes in the relevant legal processes under the laws of England and Wales, the United States, and other jurisdictions and has extensive experience with similar financial instruments. Therefore, the selection process will target companies ranked among the leading legal advisors operating in the UK (the country of registration of the bond issue), specifically in the categories of debt capital markets/debt restructuring," Ukrzaliznytsia said.
"The company needs reliable legal protection in complex dealings with experienced foreign creditors supported by high-quality international lawyers. Ukrzaliznytsia's legal position must be as strong as possible," the company added.
The legal advisor's responsibilities include drafting detailed legal documentation, defending the company's interests during negotiations while considering the risks and pitfalls of foreign legislation, and ensuring that the deal is legally structured correctly to reduce debt and mitigate legal risks (every comma in a final agreement on a deal worth around USD 1 billion could cost the company tens of millions).
These services will be procured through the Prozorro public procurement system.
