Walkers, a global offshore law firm, has launched an initiative aimed at increasing local accessibility to its services in Central and Eastern Europe.
Walkers, a global offshore law firm, has launched an initiative aimed at increasing local accessibility to its services in Central and Eastern Europe.
The initiative will also look to deepen existing client relationships, while raising awareness of Walkers’ capabilities to new clients in these expanding markets.
Walkers will be growing its capabilities in Central and Eastern Europe in order to focus on the growing number of commercial opportunities emanating from this region as clients make greater use of offshore structures for corporate activity and finance transactions.
Advising on the laws of the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Jersey, Walkers will offer services across its range of practice areas, including corporate, investment funds, private equity, finance, insolvency and corporate recovery, trusts and litigation.
The new initiative will be spearheaded by partner Jack Boldarin who has relocated to Europe in order to offer clients additional support in their time zone. Boldarin, who is admitted as an attorney in both the Cayman Islands and the BVI, relocates from Walkers’ BVI office where he has headed up the finance and corporate department for the past three years. He will be based in Walkers’ Jersey office and will receive the support of a team drawn from partners and associates in Walkers’ London and Jersey offices.
"As business in the traditional financial centres such as New York and London has been impacted by the global credit crisis, we have seen more activity in the trading centres like Moscow and elsewhere in Russia and the CIS, particularly where companies are working with the vast natural resources present in that region," says Boldarin. "From the discussions that we have had with our clients and with others in the region, we anticipate an excellent response to this initiative."
Recently, Boldarin has advised on a number of major transactions in Central and Eastern Europe, including acting for a large investment bank in relation to a USD155m joint venture established to invest in the development and construction of a portfolio of shopping malls in the former states of the Soviet Union. He also acted recently for a Russian conglomerate on a USD2bn bridge facility to be granted by State Development bank Vnesheconombank. Boldarin has advised the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development with respect to various transactions in Russia and the CIS region, as well as recently acting for a major French bank in connection with a USD1bn loan facility made in regard to the acquisition of a group of Russian controlled BVI companies.
