Armen Khachaturyan
Senior Partner, Chair of Banking, Finance and Securities
ASTERS

Armen Khachaturyan is Senior Partner and Chair of Banking, Finance and Securities of Asters, one of the leading Ukrainian law firms. Admitted in Ukraine. Mr. Khachaturyan has extensive banking, finance and project finance experience, particularly in capital markets and lending transactions in various industries, and led the firm’s team working on several Eurobond issues and IPOs. His practice areas also include M&A, general corporate advice, currency control, securities, energy, privatization, and employment law. Mr. Khachaturyan frequently advises foreign and Ukrainian clients on cross-border legal planning and regulatory issues related to foreign investment.

Mr. Khachaturyan have worked  as a coordinator of the advisory group at the State Commission of Ukraine on Securities and Stock Market for improvement of capital market regulations and is a member of the National IPO Committee of Ukraine. He is a member of the Ukrainian Bar Association, Kyiv City Bar Association, and associate member and member of foreign advisory board of the Ukrainian American Bar Association.

Mr. Khachaturyan is named one of the world’s pre-eminent Capital Markets, Banking & Finance and M&A practitioners by The Euromoney Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers 2008. He is also featured in the Chambers Global. The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2008, PLC Which Lawyer? 2008 and IFLR1000. The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms 2008 as a highly recommended lawyer in banking and finance, capital markets and M&A transactions. Mr. Khachaturyan is named a leading professional in finance practice by the 2008 Client Choice ranking publication by Yurydychna Gazeta, a Ukrainian legal weekly, and a recipient of the Best Partner of Law Firm in Ukraine at the Legal Awards 2008 ceremony by Yuridicheskaya Practika, a Ukrainian legal publishing house. 

In recent years, Mr. Khachaturyan led the firm’s team representing, inter alia, lead-managers (Morgan Stanley and Co. International Limited, ABN AMRO Bank N.V.) in USD 250 million Eurobond offering by OJSC “Myronovskiy Hliboprodukt”, a leading Ukrainian poultry producer; lead managers (Citigroup and Standard Bank) in USD 100 million Eurobond offering by Forum Bank, a major Ukrainian bank; lead managers (Standard Bank Plc and BNP Paribas) in USD 100 million Eurobond offering by Bank Pivdennyi;  Ukrsotsbank, a major Ukrainian bank, in USD 100 million Eurobond offering; Ukrprombank, one of the leading Ukrainian banks, in the planned multi-million Eurobond offering; a major Ukrainian company in the chemical industry in connection with  IPO issue; a major Ukrainian company in the food industry in connection with IPO issue; Tyco International Limited, the world’s leading manufacturing and service company, in corporate restructuring and reorganization; a major Ukrainian pharmaceutical company in corporate restructuring and reorganization; Aval Bank in USD 1.028 billion equity sale to Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG; Swedbank in USD 735 million acquisition of controlling equity in OJSC TAS-`Kommerzbank; GETIN Holding SA in acquisition of controlling equity in OJSC Bank Prykarpattya; Vilniaus Bankas in acquisition of controlling equity in Bank AGIO; FinPoint Investment Advisors in sale of controlling equity in the Ukrainian Processing Center (UPC) to Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG; three major international banks on various issues of Ukrainian law in connection with participation in a tender, including full-blown due diligence, with the purpose to buy controlling equity in Ukrsibbank, Ukrsotsbank and Pravex Bank; UniCredito Italiano S.p.A. on regulatory issues of banking, exchange and general corporate law, including approvals of the National Bank of Ukraine, in connection with its EUR 18.26 billion acquisition of Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG; Severstal in acquisition of OJSC Dneprometiz and in a tender to acquire controlling equity in Krivorizhstal; a major international brewery in a tender to acquire controlling equity in Ukrainian brewery Sarmat, including due diligence and structuring advice; a major international beverage company in a tender to acquire controlling equity in juice producer Sandora LLC, including due diligence and structuring advice; a major Central European energy company in negotiations for acquisition of five Ukrainian power distribution companies, including due diligence and structuring advice; Vetropack Hoding AG in acquisition of OJSC Gostomel Glass Factory; a foreign company in a tender to acquire controlling equity in Volya Cable, leading Ukrainian TV cable operator; FiberNet Communications, a leading telecom brokerage company, in connection with acquisition of Falstap, a leading Ukrainian TV cable operator; including due diligence, shareholder matters, and merger filing; A.Stucki  in connection with establishment of a joint venture with a Ukrainian company to manufacture component parts for railway cars for Ukrzaliznytsia, the State Administration of Railway Transport of Ukraine; and one of the world’s leading manufacturers in the field of elevators and escalators on the acquisition transaction of a number of subsidiaries of a Ukrainian elevator company.

Mr. Khachaturyan started his legal practice as an intern in the law firm of Sills, Cummins, Zuckerman, Radin, Tischman, Epstein & Gross, New Jersey, USA (ABA/Soros Foundation sponsored program), in 1991-1992. He also worked as a foreign associate at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, New York, USA, in Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group (1993-1994). Prior to joining Shevchenko Didkovskiy & Partners, Mr. Khachaturyan was an associate at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, L.L.P. in its offices in Columbus, Ohio, USA (1995-1998), and Kyiv, Ukraine (1998-2001), where he worked on diverse corporate, finance and real estate projects in the United States, Russia and Ukraine.

In addition to his practice of law, Mr. Khachaturyan taught civil and private international law at Kyiv Institute of National Economy and Kyiv Institute of International Relations, and worked as an expert in the Institute of State and Law of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous publications on foreign investment, privatization, banking, labor and private international law. In particular, Armen Khachaturyan has authored the Ukrainian chapter in International Corporate Law: Winning Legal Strategies for Litigation, Compliance, M&A and Other Intricacies of Conducting Business in All Major Markets, an authoritative publication by Aspatore Books. He has also authored Ukrainian chapters in International Labour & Employment Law: A Country-by-Country Look at Legal Issues in Human Resources in Major Markets Around the Globe focusing on the specific laws related to hiring and firing, unions, employee benefits, and other important aspects of labor and human resources, and in International Intellectual Property Law both published by Aspatore Books in its Winning Legal Strategies Series.

Mr. Khachaturyan received his LL.M degree from Yale Law School (USA) in 1993, Ph.D. (Private International Law) and Master of Law (International Law) degrees from Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University in 1990 and 1983, respectively. He also studied in the International Law Institute, Washington, D.C., Orientation in U.S. Legal System (1991). Languages: English, Ukrainian and Russian.