Herbert Smith Freehills take home CEE Legal Matters 'Deal of the Year' award for the second year in the row

Herbert Smith Freehills corporate and M&A team in Russia have been awarded the CEE Legal Matters 'Deal of the Year' award for their involvement on the merger of CJSC Transmashholding and LocoTech-Service LLC for Alstom Transport S.A.

The deal is a stand-out example of a major European company making a significant investment in Russia in challenging market conditions. The combined business will play an important role in developing rail transportation in Russia.

Partner Alexei Roudiak said: "This high-profile transaction represents yet another example of a seamless cross-border team effort. The team has been working hard on negotiating best possible corporate governance rights for Alstom and on making a transaction of such a magnitude happen despite all the market challenges. This has required an out-of-the- box thinking and fullest dedication from everyone involved. Our work will greatly contribute to expanding our credentials in the area of Russian inbound investments, in particular by major European-based investors, and to strengthening our relationship with Alstom which has been a very important client of the firm. The Deal of the Year Award by CEE for Russia is all the more important given that we were awarded with it for the second year in the row and we are very much looking forward to opportunities in the future."

The team was led by Moscow office managing partner and head of corporate EMEA, Alexei Roudiak. The core team was of counsels, Evgeny Yuriev and Justin Vaughan, associate, Graeme McIntyre and trainee, Alexander Chuprunov. The broader team was associates, Lauren Long, Bogdana Shtoma and Olga Stepanova (Corporate, Moscow), partner, Oleg Konnov and senior associate, Sergei Eremin (Tax, Moscow), senior associate, Georgiy Entin and associate, Ilsur Mavlekeev (Finance, Moscow), partners Christopher Theris and Jonathan Mattout, of counsel, Raphael Coeurquetin and associate, Roland Launoy (France) and of counsel, Jonathan Cross (New York).

The CEE Legal Matters 2019 Deal of the Year Awards took place in Budapest, Hungary.