England - London • Industry focus

Fieldfisher

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Fieldfisher has a dedicated emerging markets team in London that handles transactional, regulatory, litigation and arbitration matters in key markets, notably Africa, the CIS, and the Middle East. It is particularly adept in banking, capital markets, corporate and regulatory matters in jurisdictions such as Kazakhstan, Ukraine and South Africa. 'The firm has an impressive, very professional and balanced team', remark clients, and project and asset finance partner Matt Hinxman 'always provides sound legal and strategic advice'. Energy partner Nodir Sidikov 'never fails to deliver commercial and workable solutions'. Cecily Davis is the standout partner for matters in Africa. Sidikov and corporate partner Jonathan Brooks assisted KazMunayGas, the national oil & gas company of Kazakhstan, with its $330m IPO on the Astana International Stock Exchange. Sidikov and a team of senior associates acted for the same client in joint ventures relating to two large scale petrochemicals projects, involving to the construction and operation of the first integrated petrochemical complex in the Atyrau region.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Fieldfisher has been our trusted legal advisor for over a decade. Over the course of our cooperation, Nodir Sidikov has personally become a highly-valued advisor that often provides his expert advice to the top management of our group on the most complex issues, often highly political and sensitive, in his diverse areas of expertise.'

  • ‘Nodir Sidikov s a long-term, well respected and well trusted advisor for our group. Nodir often helps us resolve the challenges which our business as a national oil and gas group, and Kazakhstan as a republic, faces. He has in-depth historic knowledge and understanding of our business and the feel for balance in highly-sensitive political and international relations. We highly praise Nodir for providing high quality advice on complex legal questions, and he has not failed to deliver commercial and workable solutions to us.'

  • 'Tamara Vasiljeva has an impressive commercial acumen and understanding of our historic business needs - she is always business-minded and pleasant to work with.'
  • 'Irina Mikhnova is a knowledgeable and sensible specialist, very approachable and well trusted by our team.'
  • 'Anastasiya Kapustina is a real fighter, and has impressed us by remaining calm but passionate about our needs and instructions, often on highly political and sensitive deals. She is a very hard working specialist who is involved in our matters in both corporate and regulatory spheres.'
  • 'Galina Rivkina has proven to be reliable, experienced in a broad range of corporate transactions and having a great understanding of our group's goals, making her an advisor that is easy to work with. Kuanysh Sarsenbayev combines a rare knowledge of Kazakh law and culture, with his knowledge of English law. This makes him a diverse specialist who tailors advice to our commercial and cultural realities and provides arbitration assistance.’
  • ‘Matt Hinxman is very experienced in dealing with such matters and he always provides sound legal and strategic advice.’

  • ‘Rebecca McKee - a rising star. It surely will not be long until she makes partner. She is always on top of all of the material and all of the detail. If you ask her to handle an issue or a problem you can be certain that it will be done and sorted out without ever having to check up.’

Key clients

  • Amur Minerals Corporation
  • Atalaya Mining plc
  • Beowulf Mining plc
  • JSC National Company "KazMunayGas"
  • JSC "sovereign wealth fund "Samruk-Kazyna"
  • Cooperatieve KMG EP UA
  • Kcell JSC
  • KazAzot JSC
  • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
  • KPMG Kazakhstan
  • Kodal Minerals plc
  • Liberum Capital
  • RCB Bank Ltd (now Finstella Limited)
  • Savannah Resources plc
  • SigmaRoc plc
  • The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  • Trafigura Pte Limited
  • Traxys Europe S.A.

Work highlights

  • Assisted JSC "National Company "KazMunayGas", national oil & gas company of Kazakhstan (with market cap of circa US$10 billion), on its IPO on the Astana International Exchange (AIX) and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).
  • Assisted major client Igor Kolomoisky, with unique and ground-breaking work in the disputes and arbitration forum. The firm has been entrusted with representing him in JSC Commercial Bank Privatbank v Kolomoisky & Others, one of the largest disputes heard by English commercial court raising complex issues of foreign banking regulations, alleged fraud and misrepresentations.
  • Advised JSC “National Company “KazMunayGas” on joint ventures with PJSC "Sibur Holding" (one of the world expert petrochemicals' producing and supplying corporations) relating to two large scale petrochemicals projects in the Republic of Kazakhstan, involving to the construction and operation of the first integrated petrochemical complex in the Republic of Kazakhstan (producing polypropylene) and a large scale polyethylene plant with the envisaged project value of around US$6 billion for each plant.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Matt Hinxman, Nodir Sidikov, Cecily Davis

Other key lawyers

Irina Mikhnova, Tamara Vasiljeva, Anastasiya Kapustina, Dougall Molson, Galina Rivkina, Kuanysh Sarsenbayev, Rebecca McKee