Advising on granting of EUR 610 million macro-financial assistance to Ukraine

On May 20, 2014 the European Commission disbursed EUR 100 million for Ukraine, the first tranche in a 1.61-billion-euro package that the EU pledged last month to help the country’s struggling economy.

Vasil Kisil & Partners acted as a sole legal advisor to the European Commission, a supranational institution representing the interests of the European Union, on granting of EUR 610 million macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

In April 2013, the Memorandum of Understanding and the Loan Agreement were entered into by Ukraine, as a borrower, the National Bank of Ukraine, as an agent to the borrower, and the European Union, as a lender regarding the loan in the aggregate amount of EUR 610 million. Both above documents were ratified by the Ukrainian Parliament on March 4th 2014. The first installment of the macro-financial assistance was transferred to the state of Ukraine on the 20th of May. The outstanding amount of the loan is expected to be granted within the course of 2014.

Vasil Kisil & Partners advised the European Commission on the Ukrainian law and international law matters of the transaction. In particular, the lawyers were actively involved in drafting of the transaction documents, controlled fulfillment of conditions precedent to completion of the transaction and issued a legal opinion in favour of the lender.