Lawyer Monthly Magazine - August 2019 Edition

104 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | AUG 2019 Transactions reports This announcement appears as a matter of record only Mail.ru Announces Joint Venture with Alibaba Group, MegaFon & Russian Direct Investment Fund Legal adviser to Mail.ru: Legal adviser to MegaFon: Legal adviser to Alibaba: Legal adviser to Russian Direct Investment Fund: Mail.ru Announces Joint Venture with Alibaba Group, MegaFon & Russian Direct Investment Fund Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), a global digital commerce company, PJSC “MegaFon” (MoEx: MFON), a pan-Russian operator of digital opportunities, Mail.ru Group (MAIL.LI) , the leading internet and IT company in Russia, and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, have received approval from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) in Russia for a joint venture to integrate Russia’s key consumer internet and e-commerce platforms and launch a leading social commerce joint venture in Russia and the CIS, which will operate in compliance with local data protection regulations. Linklaters advised Russian Direct Investment Fund, amajor Russian sovereign wealth fund, in relation to creation of JV between RDIF, Alibaba Group, the world’s leading retail commerce company, MegaFon, a pan-Russian operator of digital opportunities, and Mail.ru Group, the leading internet/ IT holding in Russia. Ivan Chuprunov (Corporate Managing Associate) led the transaction. Linklaters commented: “The JV will operate in Russia and certain other jurisdictions across all e-commerce segments and will create one-stop platform for social, communications, gaming and shopping based on the existing e-commerce business of AliExpress Russia and Mail.ru Group’s social and digital businesses as well as accelerate the development of Russia’s growing digital economy.” This announcement appears as a matter of record only Calliditas Therapeutics And Everest Medicines To Develop And Commercialise Nefecon in Greater China Private equity provider: Financial adviser to Calliditas Therapeutics AB: Calliditas Therapeutics and Everest Medicines Enter into Licensing Agreement Related to Greater China Calliditas Therapeutics AB (“Calliditas”) and Everest Medicines II Limited (“Everest”) announced that they have entered into a license agreement, in which Everest will develop and commercialize Calliditas’ leading drug candidate Nefecon in Greater China and Singapore for the chronic autoimmune kidney disease IgA Nephropathy (IgAN). Under the terms of the agreement, Calliditas will receive an initial upfront payment of 15M USD at signing of the agreement, as well as future payments linked to pre-defined development, regulatory and commercialization milestones up to an additional 106M USD, including an option worth up to 20M USD for the development of Nefecon in other potential indications. Everest will also pay typical royalties on net sales. “We are excited to be entering into this partnership with Everest Medicines to expand Nefecon’s market reach to China, where there is a significant unmet medical need for this large patient population. We look forward to working in close collaboration with Everest Medicines to bring the innovative approach of Nefecon, which has shown great promise in our large Phase 2b study, to IgAN patients as rapidly as possible. Everest Medicines offers a unique combination of strong expertise in the clinical development and regulatory arena, and an innovative approach for this market,” said Renée Aguiar-Lucander, CEO of Calliditas Therapeutics AB.