Cleary Gottlieb Named Russia M&A Legal Advisor of the Year

At last night’s Financial Times and mergermarket European M&A Awards, Cleary Gottlieb was named Legal Advisor of the Year for Russia. The short-list for the awards is primarily based on mergermarket’s M&A league tables, with the final result decided by a panel of judges. Cleary Gottlieb was also short-listed for Legal Advisor of the Year for France.

Highlights of Cleary Gottlieb’s Russian M&A practice for 2009 include its representations of:

• Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company, in its $1.5 billion acquisition 51% of SeverEnergia LLC and in its $4.1 billion acquisition of a 20% stake of GazpromNeft, in both cases from Eni SpA and Enel SpA.
  
• Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Russia’s largest mobile phone business, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, in its $1.3 billion acquisition of a 51% stake in Comstar-UTS from MTS’ majority shareholder Sistema, Russia’s largest public diversified financial corporation, which is London listed.
  
• TNK-BP, Russia’s third largest oil company, in the sale of its oilfield services business to Weatherford International Ltd, the NYSE-listed Swiss oilfield services company, in exchange for Weatherford shares.
  
• Alenia and its parent Finmeccanica in its joint venture with Sukhoi to create the SuperJet 100, the first post-Soviet Russian civilian jetliner.