AstapovLawyers has recruited the head of distressed assets at Oschadbankas as counsel.

Aleksey Kovryzhenko has been hired to launch and lead the firm’s new distressed assets practice as it looks to establish itself as a specialist in one of the jurisdiction’s more active areas.

Kovryzhenko comes from a banking background and has experience working for state-owned and private lenders. He will focus on distressed M&A, debt recovery for financial institutions, and insolvency related work, including managing toxic assets in Crimea.

Work relating to distressed assets has been steadily increasing in Ukraine, and is one of the few areas firms are still securing mandates. The conflict in the East of the country has exacerbated the decline of the country’s poorly performing economy leading to more restructuring and insolvency and distressed M&A matters.