An award winning Competition Law Practice at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners is the largest in the CIS.

The Firm's lawyers have an impressive track record of successfully obtaining approvals from the antimonopoly authorities of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan for more than one hundred M&A, joint ventures, and corporate restructuring transactions, including those related to investment into strategic industries.

The Firm's experience encompasses dozens of complex antimonopoly cases successfully settled both as part of administrative proceedings and in court. The Practice's longstanding clients include companies holding dominant positions in the CIS market.

The success of the Practice may be attributed to its participation in major and benchmark transactions and competition disputes, as well as to its extensive involvement in drafting of laws, particularly, as part of expert councils at the Russian FAS and not-for-profit partnerships promoting competition in Russia and the CIS.

In Russia, the Practice has about twenty experts allowing it to systematize extensive court practice involving articles 10 and 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition". The Practice is recommended by such publications as Chambers Europe, Who's Who Legal: CIS, PLC Which Lawyer and Best Lawyers. The Global Competition Review 100 views it as the biggest in the market.

In Ukraine, the Practice that previously operated under the Magisters brand has many years of experience collaborating with the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) and advising clients from over two dozen industries. Achievements of our Ukrainian team include such benchmark projects as the approval by AMCU of the biggest M&A deal in Ukraine's history - merger of Altimo and Telenor in the CIS totaling USD 23.8bn, among others.

Our services in the CIS:

• approval of transactions as part of control procedures over economic concentration and concerted action (cartels) and analysis as to whether such approval is required;
• protecting client interests during audits by antimonopoly authorities and challenging of their orders in court;
• engaging an antimonopoly authority in the client's defence;
• business restructuring and development of market strategy to fit antitrust regulations.

Additionally, we offer the following services in Russia:

• advising on cases involving taking control over companies of strategic importance by foreign investors;
• initiation of, and advising on, company's inclusion into the register of dominant companies and contestation of such measures taken by the Federal Antimonopoly Service;
• drafting statutory antimonopoly regulations and their promotion in the Russian FAS and the Government of the Russian Federation.