Walkers Expands Central and Eastern Europe Capability

ST. HELIER, Jersey -

- Initiative in Response to Increased Demand for Offshore Services from the Region

Walkers, the leading global offshore law firm, has responded to the increased demand for offshore legal services from the Central and Eastern Europe Region (CEER) by launching a new initiative aimed at increasing local accessibility to its services. The initiative will also look to deepen existing client relationships, while raising awareness of Walkers’ capabilities to new clients in these expanding markets.

Walkers will be growing its capabilities in the CEER in order to focus on the growing number of commercial opportunities emanating from this region as clients make greater use of offshore structures for corporate activity and finance transactions. Advising on the laws of the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Jersey, Walkers will offer services across its range of practice areas, including corporate, investment funds, private equity, finance, insolvency and corporate recovery, trusts and litigation.

The new initiative will be spearheaded by partner Jack Boldarin who has relocated to Europe in order to offer clients additional support in their time zone. Mr. Boldarin, who is admitted as an attorney in both the Cayman Islands and the BVI, relocates from Walkers’ BVI office where he has headed up the finance and corporate department for the past three years. Mr. Boldarin will be based in Walkers’ Jersey office and will receive the support of a dedicated team drawn from partners and associates in Walkers’ London and Jersey offices.

“As business in the traditional financial centres such as New York and London has been impacted by the global credit crisis, we have seen more activity in the trading centres like Moscow and elsewhere in Russia and the CIS, particularly where companies are working with the vast natural resources present in that region,” Mr. Boldarin said. “From the discussions that we have had with our clients and with others in the region, we anticipate an excellent response to this initiative.”

Mr. Boldarin has received numerous recognitions from the leading legal commentators for his work with Walkers both in the Cayman Islands and the BVI, with recommendations from the International Financial Law Review and Chambers Global Guide. The PLC Which Lawyer Yearbook ranked him in the top tier of Banking and Finance lawyers in the BVI and the Legal 500 directory said Mr. Boldarin was “widely acclaimed as one of the islands’ top practitioners”.

With Mr. Boldarin’s commercial expertise across transactions and products in the emerging Eastern European economies and Walkers’ reputation as the legal counsel of first choice on complex, multi-jurisdictional transactions, clients in the region can rely on receiving the most relevant, commercially aware advice to best meet their objectives. “Companies and financial institutions in the emerging markets have traditionally tended to gravitate towards BVI legal services for their offshore needs and at present we are seeing a significant amount of M&A and joint venture work,” Mr. Boldarin said. “Often the most suitable solution will involve a combination of BVI and Cayman Islands law or Cayman Islands and Jersey advice. Many of our attorneys are able to advise on the laws of more than one jurisdiction, which results in a more efficient service for our clients.”

Recently, Mr. Boldarin has advised on a number of major transactions in the CEER, including acting for a large investment bank in relation to a US$155 million joint venture established to invest in the development and construction of a portfolio of shopping malls in the former states of the Soviet Union. He also acted recently for a leading Russian conglomerate on a US$2 billion bridge facility to be granted by State Development bank Vnesheconombank. Mr. Boldarin has advised the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development with respect to various transactions in Russia and the CIS region, as well as recently acting for a major French bank in connection with a US$1 billion loan facility made in regard to the acquisition of a group of Russian controlled BVI companies.

For more information on Walkers’ Central and Eastern Europe Initiative, please contact Jack Boldarin, either by email at: jack.boldarin@walkersglobal.com or by phone on +44(0)1534-700-789.

About The Walkers Group

From offices in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jersey, London, and Singapore, the Walkers group provides legal and management services to leading FORTUNE 100 and FTSE 100 global corporations and financial institutions, capital markets participants, investment fund managers, and growth-and middle-market companies.

The Walkers group is comprised of leading offshore law firm, Walkers; fund services provider, Walkers Fund Services Limited; and SPV and corporate services providers, Walkers SPV Limited, Walkers Corporate Services Limited and Walkers (BVI) Limited.

Walkers was recently named “Offshore Law Firm of the Year 2009″ by PLC Which Lawyer? and “Top Offshore Law Firm 2008″ by Alpha Magazine. Walkers was also named “Offshore Law Firm of the Year” at the Asian Legal Business Hong Kong Law Awards in 2007 and 2008. In 2006, Walkers was named as The Lawyer’s Offshore Law Firm of the Year, the PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook Leading Cayman Islands Law Firm and was one of two firms honoured as “Offshore Legal Team of the Year” by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). Walkers was named the Who’s Who Legal Law Firm of the Year: Cayman Islands for 2006 and 2007.

For more information on the Walkers group, visit us on the web at www.walkersglobal.com or contact us by e-mail at info@walkersglobal.com. To contact Walkers’ Jersey office by phone, call +44(0)1534-700-700.

Source: Walkers

Megan Fox of Levick Strategic Communications for Walkers, +1-202-973-5308, cell +1-202-596-0707, mfox at levick.com