Banking & Finance, Capital Markets - PRACTICE AREAS

The practice

The Banking & Finance, Capital Markets team at EPAM Law is one of the most established and stable teams in the Russian market, with its core members having worked together for more than 10 years.

The team provides comprehensive legal support to all participants of the financial market, including credit and non-credit financial institutions, institutional investors, governmental and municipal authorities, international financial organisations, and international investment funds, as well as lenders and borrowers, financial advisers, securities issuers, guarantors and sureties, arrangers and underwriters.

Drawing on extensive experience in banking law and securities markets, as well as a well-developed track record in implementing innovative financial instruments and mechanisms, the team offers clients end-to-end transactional support, including participation in structuring and negotiating key project aspects that are critical to transaction structure and timing.

Our primary focus is on large-scale projects. The Firm advises on equity and debt capital raising transactions (international, sovereign and private financing), as well as other financing transactions, investment projects and debt restructurings. Over the years, we have accumulated significant experience advising on securities issuances (bonds and shares, including IPOs and SPOs), conducting comprehensive legal due diligence exercises, and preparing and issuing legal opinions on a wide range of matters of national law. The Firm’s lawyers closely monitor legislative developments, and many projects involve obtaining “counter-sanctions” approvals required for financing or debt restructuring.

Our team’s expertise covers a broad range of regulatory matters, including counter-sanctions regulation, currency regulation and control, anti-terrorist financing and anti-money laundering compliance, as well as matters relating to collective investments, payment systems, disclosure requirements and licensing in the banking and financial sectors. We provide comprehensive legal and advisory support to financial institutions, state corporations, commercial companies and development institutions on regulatory reforms, liquidity and financial stability initiatives, and capital markets development.

The team’s market leadership is confirmed by awards and top-tier rankings:

Band 1 in the Kommersant ranking in the categories of Capital Markets, Advisory to Leaders of the Financial and Banking Sector, and Resolution of Key Disputes in Banking, Investment and Insurance Industries (2025).
CBonds Award for “ESG Issuance of the Year” (2024).
Best Legal Team in the CIS Syndicated Loans Market according to CBonds (2022).
CBonds Award for advising on the first yuan-denominated bond issuance in the Russian market (2022).
Best Legal Team in the Bond Market according to CBonds (2021).

Services

Public (IPO, SPO) and private equity placements.
Financial asset securitisation.
Derivatives and repo transactions.
Bond issuances, including programme issuances, secured issuances and structured bonds.
Admission of foreign securities to public offering and circulation in Russia, as well as admission of Russian issuers’ securities to public offering and circulation abroad.
Syndicated and bilateral lending transactions, including secured lending, project finance and acquisition finance.
Debt restructuring.
Advising on international finance transactions, including syndicated lending, acting for both lenders and borrowers.

Projects

Our portfolio predominantly includes complex and innovative projects, including:

The first securitisation of non-mortgage assets in Russia implemented through a specialised financial vehicle structure.
SPO of PJSC Aeroflot, raising more than RUB 80 billion.
IPO of Bestway Global Holdings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Advising Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Raiffeisen Bank International AG, joint lead managers, on the debut corporate Eurobond issuance of OJSC Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus (USD 500 million).
Advising on a loan denominated in Chinese yuan granted to a fishing industry group for acquisition and construction of fishing vessels aimed at obtaining aquatic bioresource harvesting quotas.
Advising an international private and portfolio investment company on restructuring loan claims through a subsequent exchange for a foreign asset of a Russian resident blocked abroad, including obtaining regulatory approvals required to repay the loan without compliance with counter-sanctions restrictions.
Representing a borrower in obtaining a syndicated loan of approximately RUB 90 billion for the construction of an industrial plant, supported by state interest rate subsidy programmes.
Development of standard master documentation for a factoring company.
One of the largest IPOs in recent years in the Russian market — PJSC EuroTrans (TRASSA brand), which attracted approximately 20,000 new retail investors and raised around RUB 13.5 billion.
Secured bond placement project, the proceeds of which were used to finance construction of the Moscow–St Petersburg high-speed railway line.
Pilot consumer loan securitisation transaction for Gazprombank JSC with a total transaction value of RUB 5 billion.
The first placement of yuan-denominated bonds in Russia.
A unique refinancing transaction of a PPP project through placement of secured social bonds and attraction of pension financing within an infrastructure project.

The Firm’s lawyers were at the forefront of the development of the Russian securitisation market and have historically been actively involved in legislative drafting. We participated in preparation of key legislative acts governing this sector, including Federal Law No. 379-FZ dated 21 December 2013, which enabled securitisation of non-mortgage assets in Russia, the Federal Law “On the Securities Market”, a series of amendments to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Federal Laws “On Joint-Stock Companies”, “On Mortgage-Backed Securities”, “On Mortgage (Pledge of Real Estate)”, “On Combating the Misuse of Insider Information and Market Manipulation”, and other legislative acts relating to regulation, securitisation and project finance.

Reputation

"Оne of the best law firms in securitization." (Chambers Europe)

“… the team is client-oriented; it has both international and domestic experience and access to the expertise of other competent departments, where needed; lawyers have a deep understanding of the trends and tendencies on the market and have a good relationship with the regulators.” (The Legal 500)

“…They implement pioneering projects and represent clients in cross-border loan and security transactions, transactions involving bonds in both primary and secondary markets, securitization, and others.” (The Legal 500)

“A team of professionals whose advice is always valuable and appropriate ”. (The Legal 500)

“Top notch knowledge and creativity”, "a top level team” (Сhambers Europe)

"Proactive and innovative approach". "One of the best equipped teams to handle complex cross-border matters" (The Legal 500)

“The highly professional, client-oriented” team (The Legal 500)

"Attorneys … come up with useful and creative solutions" (Сhambers Europe)

“Very reliable business partner with in-depth knowledge in capital markets law. Good at innovations and challenging tasks” (IFLR1000)

“Excellent support and their ability to handle innovative projects” (The Legal 500)

“Solution-oriented approach”, "suggesting the best route for the project development” (Chambers Europe)

“Particularly active in local securitisation deals” (Chambers Europe)

“Highly professional legal skills, great market understanding and strong dedication to the client” (The Legal 500)

Third prize in the category Best Law Firm in the Bond Market (Cbonds Awards)

“Banking powerhouse lauded for its skill in international, sovereign and private financing”. “Superb capital markets team” (Chambers Europe)

“Recommended for its Russian law capabilities spanning transactional, regulatory and contentious banking and finance matters” (The Legal 500)

“The team thoroughly and deeply explores legislation in order to achieve the client’s interests”. Its “comprehensive assessment of the legal consequences allows the customer to reach correct final decisions" (IFLR1000)

“It's one of the leading law firms in Russia in the securitisation area” (IFLR1000)