Marina Kahiani

Practice Areas

Capital Markets

Corporate/Mergers and Acquisitions

Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Foreign investment

Publications

'Law in Transition' (EBRD Magazine, 2012)

Legal framework of securities market (including IPOs and Eurobonds) in the Republic of Kazakhstan (2015)

Major Kazakhstan legislation changes for 2015

Corporate Governance 2016: Kazakhstan

Corporate Recovery & Insolvency 2016: Kazakhstan

Public Procurement 2017: Kazakhstan

Aviation Law 2017: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan - Data Protection in the Financial Sector 2017

Kazakhstan: New user identification requirements "further regulate social relations"

Renewable energy projects – next destination for investments in Kazakhstan (2018)

Major Kazakhstan Legislation Changes For 2019

Kazakhstan: Corporate M&A 2020

Kazakhstan: First steps to becoming a regional hub for Islamic finance

Personal

Marina Kahiani is a partner of GRATA International. Marina focuses her practice on a wide range of finance transactions, including project finance and capital markets, infrastructure transactions as well as M&A transactions, financial services regulation and workouts and debt restructurings in many industries. Her clients include international finance institutions such as Asian Development Bank (ADB), China Development Bank (CDB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the World Bank; foreign financial institutions such as Bank of China (Hong Kong), the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, MasterCard, UBS, UniCredit Group and major local financial institutions including banks and microfinance organizations.

Ms. Marina Kahiani joined GRATA Law Firm as a London representative office in September 2008, relocated to Almaty head office in September 2009. Previously Ms. Kahiani also worked for two years as a Banker at BTA Bank, International Funding Department. Marina has over 8 years of experience in Kazakhstani legal services market as well as experience in matters dealing with former Soviet Union.

Experience

Advised EBRD of 'Local Capital Markets' project, where GRATA in consortium with international counsel advised on improvement of legal framework of Kazakh capital markets regulations and drafted proposals to legislative amendments regarding amongst others, regulation of financial institutions, corporate governance framework, settlement of the transaction on the stock exchange and other;

Advised the National Welfare Fund 'Samruk-Kazyna' and Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 'Peoples IPO' program, where GRATA in consortium with international counsel advised on improvement of legal framework and drafted respective legislative amendments regulating among others, corporate governance framework and securities regulations in Kazakhstan;

Acting for JSC Astana Finance, a financial services group in Kazakhstan, in relation to its financial restructuring;

Acting for syndicate of banks on USD 300 m loan restructuring of Ivolga Holding, a farming conglomerate which controls 1.5 m hectares of land across Russia and Kazakhstan;

Acted for underwriters led by Credit Swiss on an IPO of a major telecommunication company (Kcell JSC) and dual listing of its shares on LSE and Kazakh stock exchange;

Advising lead managers led by RBS in a debut US $ 680 m Eurobond offering of Samruk-Energy JSC;