An English law qualified lawyer, Michael Copeland has advised on a wide range of M&A and corporate law issues while working for Herbert Smith in London, Singapore and Moscow. Having worked in Moscow for more than 5 years, Michael has a strong track record in advising clients on complicated Russia-related corporate, joint venture and energy transactions.
Michael has also spent time on secondment with a major international oil company both in London and Moscow working on M&A and joint venture matters.
Representative transactions include advising:
M&A:
- Sinopec on its groundbreaking USD 3.7bn acquisition of Udmurtneft, a Russian oil producer, from TNK-BP
- a Russian investment fund on the split of jointly-held assets worth US$15 billion
- an international infrastructure investment fund on its USD multimillion acquisition of an interest in an operator of heat and power generation and heat distribution facilities in St Petersburg
- a leading CIS energy group on its acquisition of coal mining companies operating in Russia
- one of the selling shareholders on the sale of a controlling interest in a major Russian fertiliser producer
- a Russian investment fund on the acquisition of a pre-IPO stake in a pharmaceutical company
JV:
- a leading Russian petrochemicals producer on its multi-million joint venture with an Indian partner
- an Asian investment fund on its joint venture with a local partner to establish a network of petrol filling stations in eastern Ukraine
- a Russian private equity fund on the consortium acquisition of a Russian mortgage bank and related shareholder arrangements
- a Japanese client on its proposed upstream joint venture with a major Russian oil company
- a Russian developer on a property joint venture with a US/European real estate fund
Michael graduated from the University of Nottingham (UK).
