Chadbourne & Parke LLP Represents Ukrainian Mobile Operator in $243M (Euro197M) Vendor Equipment Purchase Financings with Ericsson and Nokia
Moscow — July 22, 2004 — Chadbourne & Parke LLP is representing Astelit, a Ukrainian telecommunications company majority indirectly controlled by the Turkish GSM operator Turkcell, in the financing of two contracts awarded to Ericsson, A.B. and Nokia Corporation for the design and implementation of a new GSM 1800 standard network in Ukraine. The total value of the two contracts equals US$243 million (Euro197m).
The contract with Nokia, announced July 14, is the company’s first with Astelit. Under the agreement, Nokia will supply its complete GSM/EDGE base station subsystem, as well as provide implementation support and an operations start-up package. The loan under this contract, which totals Euro125 million ($154m), is being financed by two credit facilities provided by Nokia Corporation. The equipment will be provided by Nokia Corporation and support services by Nokia Tietoliikenne OY, a Finnish subsidiary.
The contract with Ericsson, announced July 1, is being financed through a credit facility provided by Ericsson Credit A.B., the company’s financial arm. The $89 million (Euro72m) loan includes the purchase of mobile phone network equipment and the provision of support services to facilitate the network launch, which are to be provided by Ericsson’s Ukrainian subsidiary. Ericsson previously worked with DCC (another Ukrainian operator having 99% ownership in Astelit) on the development of its existing network, which is based on the D-AMPS digital standard.
Chadbourne’s work on both deals has involved input from a team of lawyers out of the firm’s Moscow, Kyiv, London and Washington, D.C. offices. Moscow Managing Partner Laura M. Brank is leading both projects, with support from London partner Denis Petkovic and Kyiv partners Adam Mycyk and Volodymyr Baibarza. Washington, D.C.-based partner Hwan Kim provided advice on the supply contracts. Also working on the deals are associates Dmitry Gubarev and Konstantin Konstantinov of the Moscow office and Sergiy Onishchenko of the Kyiv office.
The contracts with Ericsson and Nokia are part of Astelit’s plans to develop its mobile telephone network in the GSM 1800 standard throughout Ukraine. DCC is Ukraine’s third-largest mobile provider and currently provides service to approximately 75,000 subscribers in 8 regional centers through its TDMA network. DCC is 51% indirectly controlled by Turkcell, the only NYSE listed company in Turkey.
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Chadbourne & Parke LLP, an international law firm headquartered in New York City, provides a full range of legal services, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, project finance, corporate finance, energy, telecommunications, commercial and products liability litigation, securities litigation and regulatory enforcement, white collar defense, intellectual property, antitrust, domestic and international tax, reinsurance and insurance, environmental, real estate, bankruptcy and financial restructuring, employment law and ERISA, trusts and estates and government contract matters. The Firm has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Moscow, Kyiv, Warsaw (through a Polish partnership), Beijing and a multinational partnership, Chadbourne & Parke, in London. For additional information, visit www.chadbourne.com.
