The Banking and Finance, Capital Markets practice team at EPAM Law provided legal advisory services to the management company CJSC "Lider" in the financing of the high-speed railway (HSR) construction project connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The HSR is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure projects and is being implemented with significant funding from multiple financial institutions under a concession agreement. This agreement was signed between the Russian Federation, represented by the Federal Railway Transport Agency (Roszheldor), and LLC "HSR Two Capitals," acting as the concessionaire.

The project's financing structure included raising funds through the issuance of bonds, with a specially established financial vehicle, "SFO HSR Invest – First," acting as the bond issuer.

The Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA) assigned the bond issuance its highest credit rating of AAA(RU).

EPAM Law’s legal team provided comprehensive legal support throughout the pension fund financing process via bond issuance. Their services covered the full range of legal work, including drafting all bond-related documentation, preparing necessary contractual agreements (such as the loan agreement serving as collateral for the bonds, the assignment agreement, the intercreditor agreement, and other required documents), and ensuring alignment with all transaction participants.

The successful implementation of the project was made possible by a team of lawyers from EPAM Law that included partners Roman Malovitsky and Sergey Kalinin, counsel Vladimir Goglachev, senior associate Elena Trubetskaya, and associate Dmitry Kabanov, under the overall leadership of practice head and partner Dmitry Glazunov.