Agribusiness
Legal support for agribusiness is one of the key sector specialisations of PROCTOR. We work with agricultural producers, agricultural holdings, grain traders, processors and suppliers of inputs to the countryside. The key legal risks of the industry that we cover: the land bank and land share lease agreements, exports of grain and oilseeds, state regulation of the agricultural market and criminal law pressure on the owners of agricultural companies.
Why PROCTOR
Agribusiness is an industry where legal risks are material in the literal sense: hectares, grain elevators, the harvest and foreign currency revenue. The PROCTOR team combines its land, foreign trade and criminal law practices into a single sector product: we defend a land bank against competitors re-leasing it, support GAFTA/FOSFA contracts and attend searches at a grain elevator with equal confidence.
Through the Committee for the Protection of Business and Owners' Rights of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine we know the systemic problems of farmers first hand rather than from publications, and we use that experience to defend every client.
Lines of work
- Land bankAudit and support of lease, emphyteusis and purchase agreements for agricultural land, consolidation of land blocks, protection against re-leasing by competitors and raider attacks on land.
- Exports of grain and oilseedsForeign trade contracts (including on GAFTA/FOSFA pro formas), sea and river logistics, disputes with traders, currency supervision of settlements.
- Agrarian receipts and financingStructuring the raising of working capital: agrarian receipts, forward contracts, commodity credit, pledge of the future harvest.
- State support and subsidiesObtaining compensation and grants, challenging refusals of state support, support of participation in development programmes.
- Defence against law enforcement pressureSupport during searches at grain elevators and in offices, defence in cases concerning "grain schemes", recovery of seized produce and machinery.
- Regulatory matters of the agricultural sectorPhytosanitary and veterinary control, food safety (HACCP), labelling, inspections by the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection.
Practices for the industry
The teams of PROCTOR that run matters in this sector.
Corporate law and M&AThe flagship transactional practice: the legal foundation for owning, running and selling a business. It covers M&A deals, corporate structuring and the protection of owners' interests, together with adjacent areas - employment relations with staff and senior management, and the personal wealth matters of business owners (private clients).
Customs law and international tradeA single product for importers and exporters: from structuring the foreign trade contract to defence against adjustments of the customs value. One client context - goods crossing the border.
Dispute resolution and enforcementThe full cycle of protecting a client's interests in a dispute: national courts of every jurisdiction and instance, international commercial and investment arbitration and, above all, turning a judgment won into money actually recovered.
Real estate, construction and landA practice built around the main tangible asset of a business: commercial real estate deals, construction permitting, development projects and the full range of land matters - from the agricultural land market to the land banks of agricultural companies.
Tax practiceA standalone practice with the strongest lead generation potential: protecting a business from additional tax assessments, blocked tax invoices and pressure from the tax authorities, together with the lawful optimisation of the tax burden.
Cases in the industry
Results in matters the lawyers of PROCTOR ran.
1,200 ha
A land bank defended against re-registration
An unlawful registration of lease rights was cancelled and the block returned to the use of the client.
UAH 8.6m
VAT assessment on grain exports removed
The supplies were proved real and the tax notice was cancelled in court.
48 hours
Shipment at the elevator unblocked
A lawyer attended the investigative actions and the seizure of the sunflower consignment was lifted.
Clients from the industry
