News and developments

Issuance of Subordinated Bonds as a New Opportunity for Capital Market Development

A. Adoption of Basel III and Regulations. The implementation of Basel III, the new regulation developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in response to the 2007–2009 financial crisis,
27 September 2024

Problems of taxation of operations with crypto-assets in the Republic of Armenia

Finally, after a long silence, the Republic of Armenia legally acknowledges that crypto-assets exist and is attempting to regulate relations in connection with the latter.
26 June 2024
Antitrust

Antitrust Compliance Program: Benefits of implementation

The general rule is that if an economic entity (hereinafter: Undertaking) performs a business activity within the country, it shall comply with the rules and regulations governing the respective activities. Antitrust laws are designed to promote fair competition and prevent anti-competitive practices that have the ability to harm consumers, limit market innovation and, as an ultimate result, harm competition itself. In simple words, antitrust compliance is meant to ensure that Undertaking’s actions and practices do not infringe on applicable competition/antitrust laws and regulations. Compliance includes avoiding activities such as price fixing, market allocation, bid rigging, monopolisation, disclosure of market strategy, price strategy, etc.
28 March 2023
Employment

COVID-19 -an excuse not to perform contractual obligations?

Covid-19 has been declared as pandemic by WHO. The pandemic has caused the global markets tumble and triggered massive government intervention for saving the economy as the economic activity sharply fell and panic spurred in financial markets. Many businesses now face situations where it is much more onerous or near to impossible to perform their obligations vis a vis their employees, but more importantly their counterparts and contractors.
24 March 2020
Corporate and Commercial

Armenia: Prevention of Leadership Duality

When attempting to create corporations that safeguard the interests of shareholders, many companies implement a two-tier corporate hierarchy. At the first level is the board of directors: elected by the shareholders and on the second tier is the upper management: hired by the board. The one-tier board provides a better understanding of the operational issues at board level and clearer direction; nevertheless, it can simultaneously be hard for other board members to challenge a powerful Chief executive Director (CEO) who is also the Chairman of the Board (Chair).
07 June 2022
Tax & Private Client

M&A: Share acquisition of IT companies – tax it or pass it?

Expansion of the business places the manager in front of the classical choice – grow organically or make an acquisition? Once the acquisition is decided to proceed upon and all other strategic considerations are satisfied, a business should decide whether the acquisition should proceed by acquiring assets or shares of a specific business.
13 December 2019
Press Releases

Legelata advises AGRIF COOPERATIEF U.A of the Netherlands in Acquisition of Stake in Inecobank cjsc

AGRIF COOPERATIEF U.A. is a fund managed by Incofin Investment Management in Belgium. Incofin Investment Management is an alternative fund manager which are focused on investments in emerging countries and are driven by desire to promote inclusive progress. Leading investors of agRIF Cooperatief U.A  are leading development funds, banks, insurance companies, pension funds, high net worth and retail investors.
28 October 2019
Corporate and commercial

Armenia intends to extend tax exemptions for IT industry

IT industry in Armenia has seen a dramatic growth for the last few years. The industry size in 2017 has reached 765,1 million USD versus 559,1 million USD in 2015 which represents around 37% growth like for like (National Statistical Service of Armenia 2015, 2016, 2017).
28 October 2019
Corporate and commercial

Mergers and Acquisitions: Exceptions of exercise of pre-emptive rights in Armenia

Mergers and acqusitions in the banking industry has been buoyant for the past couple of years in Armenia. This activity has been fuelled by the regulatory requirements for increase of the charter capital of the banks due to the desire of the regulator, the Central Bank of Armenia, to see larger and predictable players in the market easy to supervise. This has been coupled with the increasing interests of international players and investors towards the robust banking sector or Armenia which has offered stable exchange rates and much higher interest on debt and equity compared to that of developed markets such as Western Europe, North America and Middle East.
28 October 2019