IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Kazakhstan has not been immune to the double-hammerings of first the credit crunch in early 2008 and the subsequent global economic collapse after Lehman's default last autumn. Market perception of risk on the country's assets took a hit with its lifeblood oil sector suffering as global oil prices sharply weakened this year....

Kazakhstan has not been immune to the double-hammerings of first the credit crunch in early 2008 and the subsequent global economic collapse after Lehman's default last autumn. Market perception of risk on the country's assets took a hit with its lifeblood oil sector suffering as global oil prices sharply weakened this year. Banks curtailed lending to Kazakh players, external funding was reduced and domestic liquidity tightened.

Market development has been very slow and there have been few large deals for the law firms this past year. Commentators are not optimistic of the situation changing anytime soon, since credit growth remains at a crawl and global commodity prices are still weak.

One bright spot is that foreign direct investment into the country's main energy-generating projects is steady. "The big deals are not coming back anytime soon," says one practitioner. "But it's not so bad because I have noticed a pick-up, and we are seeing a number of small transactions out in the market."

The most high-profile legal work for the law firms are in the domestic M&A market, with government-sponsored capital injections and the precedent-setting financial restructurings of two of the country's key banks, Alliance Bank and BTA Bank.

Another highlight for regulatory development was the recent completion of Kazakhstan's new restructuring law, which had experts from White & Case Almaty assisting on its drafting. Commentators have noted a shift in work towards financial restructurings and deal amendments, and pin the reason for this partially on the financial crisis.