Michael Kharenko - Sayenko Kharenko
Partner
11 points
Michael Kharenko is known as a master lawyer when it comes to cross-border transactions and international financing. In terms of his record, numbers speak louder than words.
According to the data provided by mergermarket.com, a Financial Times group publication that specializes in analyzing the mergers and acquisitions market, the Sayenko Kharenko law firm is listed among the top three Ukrainian legal advisors having closed deals involving Ukrainian assets worth almost $6 billion.
This result makes Sayenko Kharenko the top Ukrainian-owned mergers and acquisitions specialist. The only two law firms which managed to close higher in terms of the value of Ukraine-related M&A deals advised on are Baker & McKenzie and Allen & Overy, both big international law firms.
Ukrainian-born Kharenko, who co-founded Sayenko Kharenko in 2004, advised on some of the biggest M&A deals in Ukraine’s history.
He helped restructure foreign borrowings by some of Ukraine’s biggest state companies: fixed-line telephone monopoly Ukrtelecom (recently privatized), railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, oil and gas company Naftogaz and roadways company Ukravtodor.
Kharenko has also worked on big initial public offerings on foreign exchanges by private Ukrainian companies, including real estate developers KDD Group and TMM, top domestic poultry producer MHP, as well as hydrocarbon producer Cadogan Petroleum.
Kharenko was also behind the first ever hryvnia-denominated eurobond issued by a Ukrainian bank (a more than Hr 2 billion issue by state bank Ukreximbank in February). It was intended to mitigate the risks of currency fluctuations.
Being an authority on M&A transactions, Kharenko says that one of the most important after-effects of the 2008-2009 global economic crisis on Ukraine is that transactions are getting increasingly sophisticated, complex and speedy. In Kharenko’s view, this is one the main challenges for the lawyers working in this area today.
“The buyers as well as the sellers want to complete deals fast. The lawyers do not have nearly as much time for thorough due diligence and assessment of risks as they used to,” Kharenko says. “It’s important to engage lawyers who have enough experience and sound judgment to compensate for the lack of time.”
