The Antimonopoly Committee of Uzbekistan has revealed some information on the Uzbekistan's largest M&A transactions that it had reviewed in 2019 (https://antimon.gov.uz/top-5-sdelok-po-jekonomicheskoy-koncentracii-v-uzbekistane-za-2019-god/). The relevant top-5 list includes the following transactions:
- TBC Bank Group/Inspired (Payme) – Georgian TBC Bank acquired shares of Inspired, an operator of one of the Uzbekistan's largest payment systems "Payme" with more than 1.3 mln local customers. It is expected that the bank will bring in its technological expertise and will help to increase the number of customers up to 3.7 mln.
- Nestle Uzbekistan/Lactalis – dairy concern Lactalis, founded in France in 1933, acquired water and dairy production facilities of corporation Nestle in Namangan region of Uzbekistan.
- Sinotruk/JV Man Auto Uzbekistan – China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co, Ltd (Sinotruk), one of the Chinese largest heavy vehicles producers, became a shareholder in JV MAN Auto – Uzbekistan, an Uzbek company having been established in 2009 by Uzbek state-owned incumbent JSC "Uzavtosanoat" and German MAN Truck & Bus AG and producing 1.5 heavy trucks a year.
- Uzbek – Oman Investment Company / LLC "SD Mall" and LLC "Magic Fruit" – one of the Uzbekistan's largest investment funds, established based on an intragovernmental agreement between Oman and Uzbekistan, made an equity investment in 2 Uzbek companies managing the 2 biggest shopping malls in Tashkent – ~Samarkand Darvoza" and "Compass".
- Hightex Singapore PTE.Ltd / UZTEX Group – a private company founded in 2015 and engaged in the wholesale distribution of textiles and leather acquired shares of Uzbek UZTEX Group, a vertically-integrated company being one of the Uzbekistan's leading textile manufacturers and owning 8 factories across the country.
We are glad to share that lawyers of Kosta Legal successfully advised on 2 of the above deals, having provided comprehensive legal assistance to French Lactalis and Uzbek-Oman Investment Company. Our lawyers carried out comprehensive legal due diligence on the target businesses, assisted in developing a legal structure of the transactions, brought the relevant shares purchase agreements into compliance with Uzbek law as well as ensured that possible risks associated with the transfer of shares would be avoided. Our experts also assisted in obtaining the antimonopoly and tax clearances necessary for closing the transactions. We would like to sincerely congratulate our lawyers Mr. Azizbek Akhmadjonov, Mr. Maxim Dogonkin and Mr. Jafar Abduvokhitov with completing these unique projects. We are also extremely grateful to our clients, who chose Kosta Legal as their legal counsel in Uzbekistan.
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