Oleksiy Didkovskiy - Asters
Managing partner
8 points
While no one doubts Oleksiy Didkovskiy’s achievements in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, litigation, arbitration and insurance, some of his colleagues believe he excels the most in telecommunications.
Didkovskiy was involved in one of the most famous legal battles in Ukraine’s history.
That happened when Norway’s Telenor and Moscow-based Alfa Group couldn’t come to an agreement on how to develop their telecommunications assets in Ukraine. Both companies owned shares in Kyivstar, the country’s leading mobile operator and Ukrainian Radio Systems.
The peaceful agreement, which was reached in 2010, involved an asset swap and united their telecom interests in the region under Vimpelcom. This solution marked an end to a years-long battle which involved lengthy litigation, damaging PR campaigns and the blocking of shareholder meetings.
The solution is arguably among the most brilliant examples of corporate-dispute resolution and Didkovskiy, who advised Telenor, deserves credit for his role.
His experience is not limited to telecommunications alone, as among his key deals is advising the world’s largest supplier of industrial diamonds, Element Six (a De Beers Group company), on the acquisitions of Poltava Diamond Plant.
Being deep in the mix of everything from telecommunications, diamonds to the insurance business, has gained valuable experience, personal wealth and insight for Didkovskiy. Now, he says, it is time to give back to the society that made his success possible through pro bono work.
“It’s high time for the legal community to start investing time and energy into educating society,” Didkovskiy says. “Ukrainians should learn their rights, not only obligations put on them by the state.”
