Sayenko Kharenko acted as a Ukrainian legal advisor to Commerzbank AG, the consent solicitation agent, in relation to solicitation of consent by PJSC Commercial Bank “PrivatBank” (PrivatBank) from the noteholders for the restructuring of the bank’s USD 200 million Eurobonds due in September 2015. As a result of the restructuring, the interest rate on the notes was increased from 9.375 per cent to 10.25 per cent and the maturity was extended to 2016 with further automatic extension to 2018 in case of successful restructuring of the bank’s subordinated Eurobond issue.

PrivatBank received a high level of investors support in the course of the voting: out of more than 85 per cent participating in the voting more than 95 voted in favour of the amended terms offered by PrivatBank. This is one of the highest results among similar exercises of Ukrainian issuers.

For the Ukrainian legal teams, challenges on the transaction were presented by the need for the legal structure to accommodate commercial arrangements between the bank and the noteholders in the severely restricted exchange control environment in Ukraine.

PrivatBank is the largest Ukrainian bank and one of the leading banks in Central and Eastern Europe. The bank employs over 29 thousand people and serves more than 18 million individual and corporate customers.

Sayenko Kharenko team on the transaction included counsel Anton Korobeynikov, associates Marta Lozenko, Taras Shyb and Dmytro Vasylyna, and was led by partner Nazar Chernyavsky.