Commercial Transactions

Commercial Law incorporates a wide range of legal issues affecting all aspects of business. It is essential to obtain commercially and strategically sound legal advice. GRATA’s highly professional, experienced specialists provide their clients with a number of services, such as:

• Analysing legislation and providing legal advice on various legal issues including inheritance, family law and children’s rights issues.
• Conducting Due Diligence of project contracts with specific regard to the fulfillment of obligations and assessment of commercial risks.
• Analysing terms in commercial deals, providing for the development of structures and legal support concerning commercial deals (sale and purchase, supply, lease, leasing, contractor issues and services as well as many others).
• Drafting and amending commercial agreements, advising on concluding the following agreements:
• sale and purchase agreements,
• supply agreements,
• energy supply agreements,
• agreements concerning the rent and lease of office and residential premises and transport vehicles,
• construction contractor's agreements, ( including FIDIC sample contracts) for large-scale complexes,
• commercial mandate agreements,
• agency agreements,
• trust-management agreements,
• franchise agreements,
• cession agreements,
• leasing agreements,
• management, administrative, marketing, consulting services, corporate development and planning agreements,
• distribution agreements,
• advertising agreements,
• concession agreements,
• confidentiality agreements,
• distribution and agency agreements on exclusive or non-exclusive bases).
• Analyzing and drafting external economic commercial agreements on the transfer of technology and know-how, makeover of vehicles and transfer of R and D work whilst providing an opinion on their compliance with relevant local legislation.
• Negotiating with the state authorities on commercial law issues such as drafting requests, carrying out consents and obtaining resolutions etc.
• Carrying out the legalization of the full package of documents and also obtaining Kazakhstan, Russian, Dutch and other national flags for sea vessels.
• Collaborating with leading world classification societies (the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd) on the technical examination of sea vessels.
• Drafting sale and purchase agreements for non- self-propelled cargo sea vessels, participating in the acceptance of crafts at the graving dock with the participation of classification societies.
• Carrying out the legalization of the vessels towage, obtaining calling signals, carrying out legal registration of grounded crafts and stationary crafts.

Real Estate

• Conducting Due Diligence regarding land plots and real estate units to reveal title and any encumbrances.
• Analyzing the terms, development of structures and legal support for projects financing connected with real estate deals (sale and purchase agreements, construction contracts, lease agreements, leasing agreements, public utilities services, attachments and redemption).
• Providing legal support for foreign direct investment in real estate projects, providing assistance the development of real estate projects.
• Providing assistance on the purchase of immovable assets, providing assistance on commercial and residential tenancy agreements.
• Providing legal advice after checking the legal history of a real estate unit and after the purpose of real estate unit has changed, checking documentation for real estate units (Titleholder Act for a Land Plot, etc.).
• Negotiating with the state authorities regarding the registration of title for real estate units, zoning and organization of the use of the land.
• Carrying out legalization of the full package of documents for a titleholder.

Subsoil Use

• Preparing and providing legal assistance and concluding subsoil use contracts as well as addendums to these contracts.
• Preparing, consulting and providing legal assistance and negotiations concerning Production Sharing Agreements and operational agreements. Providing assistance to investors in choosing the best way to settle disputes with the state authorities on a Production Sharing Agreement.
• Providing comparative analysis of legislation in order to choose which investment project under a Production Sharing Agreement or Joint Venture Agreement is best.
• Consulting on subsoil issues and the recovery of allowable costs.
• Completing Due Diligence of a subsoil user’s activities. Conducting a legal examination of the initiation procedure for subsoil use rights.  Confirmation of the execution of a subsoil use contract.
• Advising on issues relating to the state’s pre-emption rights (and obtaining a waiver) to purchase subsoil use right and/or to share in a legal entity and obtaining a permit from MEMR to transfer these subsoil use rights.
• Providing a legal opinion on the issues relating to the operation of previously liquidated oil wells.
• Advising on the coordination with state authorities of the mining allotment of an oil field.
• Preparing for and participating in negotiations regarding a geological survey contract.

Commercial disputes

• Preparing and participating in litigation related to property matters.
• Representing various companies’ interests at court.
• Instigating litigation related to construction contracts, insurance and administrative matters.
• Advising on pretrial and judicial settlement of disputes at all stages (return of debt, compensation for damage, disputes over lease agreements, disputes over supply agreements, etc).
• Participating in labor disputes as well as inheritance and family law disputes.
• Advising on the pretrial settlement of disputes related to lease agreements.
• Participating in pretrial procedures and interim arrangements.
• Providing support and advice on the enforcement proceeding of effective judicial awards (rulings, orders, resolutions and awards of the courts of all instances).