DLA Piper acted as legal advisor to DCH Group, owned by Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi, on the acquisition of partner stakes in Karavan, a national shopping centre chain, in Ukraine. The transaction completed on 21 October 2016. 

Karavan was one of the first shopping centre chains in Ukraine and has operated for more than 10 years in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. The total area of the shopping centres retail space is almost 250,000 square meters and combines a mix of shopping, entertainment and leisure facilities.
 
The DLA Piper team, comprising lawyers from the firm's Kyiv and London offices, provided DCH Group with full legal support from the execution of all transactional documents up to completion.

Anastasiya Bolkhovitinova, Corporate senior associate acted as the lead lawyer on the transaction, supported by Corporate partner, Margarita Karpenko. English law support was provided by Polly Owen, a London-based Corporate partner. 

Natalia Kochergina, Head of Real Estate practice at DLA Piper's Kyiv Office and client partner for DCH Group, commented: "We have a long-term client relationship with DCH Group and have successfully supported them on a number of projects. We appreciate that DCH Group chose us as a legal advisor for implementation of the project in question and we believe that this transaction is significant not only for the real estate market but also for the Ukrainian market as a whole."