Aequo Advises Dragon Capital on the Acquisition of Unex Bank

AEQUO acted as a legal advisor to the leading investment company Dragon Capital and Ivan Svitek, a key figure in investment banking and securities dealing transactions, on the acquisition of a significant share stake in Unex Bank JSC (Kyiv) from Withine Investments LTD (Cyprus).

Working closely with the Dragon Capital team and Mr. Svitek, AEQUO provided clients with legal assistance that included legal due diligence of Unex Bank, transaction structuring, obtaining of the merger clearance from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the National Bank of Ukraine, drafting and negotiation of the transaction documents, assistance with CPs fulfillment, legal support at completion of the transaction, as well as assistance with the approval of the new CEO and the Supervisory Board of the bank.

Unex Bank JSC has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1993. It was wholly owned by Withine Investments LTD and the ultimate beneficial owner was Vadym Novynsky.

The acquisition was completed and the transfer of shares to new shareholders was carried out on April 15, 2021, after the receipt of the approvals of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the National Bank of Ukraine, as well as after the conditions precedent to closing were successfully fulfilled by the parties.

AEQUO's project team included Bohdan Dmukhovskyy, counsel, Mykhaylo Soroka, senior associate, Anna Potapova, Olesia Mashtaler, and Yevheniia Chernetsova, associates and was led by Yulia Kyrpa, partner. Antimonopoly matters were handled by Sergey Denisenko, partner, and Yevgen Blok, senior associate of the firm.

“We are grateful to Dragon Capital for the unique opportunity to become a part of such landmark bank acquisition transaction in Ukraine. AEQUO is pleased to assist Dragon Capital in the process of this significant acquisition, which creates a positive trend of M&A transactions in the banking market and demonstrates the return of interest to the Ukrainian banking business as a whole”, - comments Yulia Kyrpa, partner and head of Banking & Finance at AEQUO.