PB Legal | Panin, Bayramkulov & Partners is an international boutique law firm with offices in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Dear colleagues, we are delighted to share some great news with you!

Kommersant has published the results of its annual survey of the best legal practices in Russia. PB Legal | Panin, Bayramkulov & Partners was recognised in four categories:

• Arbitration: Commercial Dispute Resolution: High-End – Group 3.
• Arbitration: Corporate Dispute Resolution: High-end – Group 2.
• Corporate Law: Russian Mergers and Acquisitions: Mid-market – Group 2.
• International Litigation: Group 2.

You can read more about the ratings by clicking here.

On the 24th of April 2025 the Faculty of Law of the Lomonosov Moscow State University will host a scientific and practical conference "Controlling in corporate and bankruptcy law".

PB Legal partner Alan Bayramkulov will be speaking at the conference at 15:20, on the topic "Liability of top managers controlling a company: the thin line between entrepreneurial risk and legal liability".

The live webcast is available at the following link.

Forbes has published a commentary by PB Legal Managing Partner Alexander Panin on a new possible mechanism of payment for a share in an LLC

The government has approved a draft law allowing LLC participants to receive a payment for a share at market value rather than book value. The change is important because book value can be lower than market value, leading to disputes over the amount of the payment.

In his commentary, Alexander Panin stressed that the new mechanism could save companies from having to go to court in cases of disputes over the value of a share.

Payment of the market value will be made at the request of a participant. The valuation of the share will be carried out by a valuer appointed by the LLC or the person to whom the payment is to be made.

The draft law may reduce disputes and abuses in the event of a member's withdrawal from an LLC. However, the introduction of an alternative mechanism for calculating the actual value of the share requires detailed elaboration at this stage.

The publication is available at the following link.

Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce that we have some great news to share with you. We are pleased to present this information to you.

On 12 March 2025 "Pravo-300" presented a personalised ranking of recommended lawyers.

PB Legal partners were recognised in the "International Litigation" category. The selection of candidates was based on a comprehensive evaluation of cases during the year, client feedback, and professional awards.

Partner Alan Bayramkulov was recognised in the category "Partners and Practice Managers". Managing Partner Alexander Panin was recognised in the category "First Persons of Law Firms".

We congratulate our colleagues and wish them new professional achievements.

For more information, please click here to view the results of the federal rating "Pravo-300".

On 5 December ‘Pravo-300’ published its annual rankings, in which PB Legal | Panin, Bayramkulov & Partners has been actively participating for many years.

This year PB Legal team has improved its position in the legal market thanks to the quality work of a well-knit team of professionals!

We have received awards in the following categories:

• Group II - International Litigation;
• Group III - Arbitration litigation (big commercial disputes: high market);
• Group III - Corporate/M&A (mid market).

We express our deep gratitude to all members of our team, as well as to our clients, without whom this result would not have been achievable.

We are very grateful to the team of ‘Pravo-300’ and hope for further cooperation!

You can find the ‘Pravo-300’ rankings at the link.

Our Client is a large Kazakhstani mining and metallurgical company, one of the largest producers of chrome raw materials and ferroalloys in the world.

The Client ordered a Russian contractor company, established jointly by a Russian and a South African company, to carry out works in the smelting shop. According to the contract, the Client transferred an advance payment to the contractor, but due to COVID-19 restrictions the works were not performed and the advance payment was not returned.

As a result of PB Legal team's actions, the Arbitrazh Court of the Moscow region awarded the advance payment in favour of the Client. However, the controlling persons of the contractor company withdrew most of the assets in their favour, therefore the Court decision was unenforceable. In order to recover the advance payment, PB Legal team initiated bankruptcy of the Russian contractor, in the course of which the insolvency administrator challenged the transactions on withdrawal of assets in favour of an affiliate, recovered unjust enrichment, and filed an application for bringing the controlling persons to subsidiary liability.

Thereafter, the controlling persons of the Russian contractor proposed to the Client to enter into a settlement agreement under which they would voluntarily repay the debt. The settlement agreement was approved by the court and the opponents have already transferred part of the funds under it.

Additionally, a company from South Africa, one of the Russian contractor's shareholders, was a subcontractor under the contract with the Client. Due to the fact that the Russian contractor transferred to this company an advance payment, the insolvency administrator filed a claim for recovery of the advance payment and losses. Under the terms of the settlement agreement the right of claim against the company from South Africa was transferred to our Client, and PB Legal team filed an application for procedural succession on Client’s behalf.

The project was led by Alan Bayramkulov and Pavel Chistyakov.