The venture arm of Uzbekistan’s leading national payment processing company, UzCard, successfully closed an investment into IMAN investment company, as part of a $1m seed round led by Battery Road...
Centil is excited to announce the launch of a chapter for the online Clean Energy tool for Uzbekistan as part of the firm’s collaboration with international law firm Simmons & Simmons....
The venture arm of Uzbekistan’s leading national payment processing company, UzCard, successfully closed an investment into IMAN investment company, as part of a $1m seed round led by Battery Road Digital Holdings (Singapore), and a number of other VC funds, including Tesla Capital, MyAsiaVC, and Le Mercier’s Capital among others.
The significance of the transaction included the complex legal aspects of the transaction, involving three jurisdictions, challenges from an Uzbek law perspective, and matters of Shari’a compliance. As part of our work we:
(i) carried out legal due diligence checks on various corporate, commercial and regulatory aspects of IMAN Group of companies’ activities in Uzbekistan;
(ii) commented and took part in negotiations over the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) under English law to ensure investor’s rights are protected, including the planned relocation of the parent company of Iman Group to Singapore; and
(iii) assisted the client with the satisfaction of condition precedents to investment.
Led by charismatic co-founders Rustam Rahmatov and Mark Zubov, the faith-driven ‘buy-now-pay-later’ company now has its eyes set for new horizons with the upcoming expansion across majority Muslim Asia Pacific countries.
Centil’s team was led by Senior Associates Husniddin Ochildiyev and Ulugbek Gulamov, and involved Associate Khayrullo Abdullaev, with the help of international English law consultant,) who advised on English and Uzbek law matters of the transaction. Husniddin commented: “We are delighted to have played a part in IMAN’s inspiring story. In addition, it is a great opportunity for Centil’s team to be involved in one of the first and most significant venture capital transactions in Uzbekistan, and demonstrates our capability to work on complex multi-jurisdictional transactions governed under English law.”
The firm’s team later took part in a conference organized by UzCard Ventures, where it spoke along with representatives from Tesla Capital and IMAN on the details of the transaction, and what it means for startups in Central Asia.
Centil is excited to announce the launch of a chapter for the online Clean Energy tool for Uzbekistan as part of the firm’s collaboration with international law firm Simmons & Simmons.
The tool is designed to provide investors in the clean energy infrastructure space with a straightforward guide for realising projects in the jurisdiction of their choice. This is done by providing information in the legal and regulatory spheres concerning clean energy in a Q&A format. The purpose for launching the tool is to simplify access to the key information to streamline the decision-making process for realising clean energy projects.
The Uzbekistan chapter was a collaborative effort of Simmons & Simmons with Centil’s Energy team. The chapter provides an overview of the significant regulatory aspects in clean energy projects, including matters of regulation of hydrogen production, acquisition of land, fiscal and revenue considerations, finance and structuring matters, and the questions regarding working with the energy grid.
Centil’s team involved in the production of the chapter was led by Energy Partner Umid Aripdjanov, and included Senior Associates Natalya Kim, Islam Gulamov, Associate Umida Adilova, and others. Mr Aripdjanov commented on the firm’s work: “The launch of the tool is a great way for putting Central Asian jurisdictions on the map of clean energy investors, and we are delighted to have played a part in this initiative”.
The significance of this work is emphasised by Uzbekistan’s increasing focus on clean energy production as part of the increasing demand for energy in the country. The Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan issued a “Concept note for ensuring electricity supply in Uzbekistan in 2020-2030” in August of 2021, as part of which it revised the country’s plans for generation of clean energy to 12 GW by 2030.
The Clean Energy tool already covers 35 other jurisdictions, and more are being added every month, bringing together best-in-class content from over 60 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Learn more about the Clean Energy Tool and request a demo and / or free trial: Simmons & Simmons | Clean Energy Tool (simmons-simmons.com)
The firm's partner, Umid Aripdjanov, who heads up the Energy practice will participate in the Central Asia Renewable Energy Summit 2019.
The Central Asia Renewable Energy Summit 2019 takes place in Astana, Kazakhstan in February.
At the beginning of 2018, Kazakhstan announced its plan to make maximum use of renewable energy sources. By the end of October, Kazakhstan awarded 857.93 mW of green power supply contracts through tenders held this year, including 270 mW solar energy, 500.85 mW wind energy, 82.08 mW of hydro energy and 5 mW of biofuel.
In May 2018, Sky Power and the Government of Uzbekistan announced the signing of a landmark 1,000 mW Solar Power Purchase agreement.
In this content, the Central Asia Renewable Energy Summit 2019, taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan on 27-28 February, is going to pave the way for capturing commercial opportunities and provide opportunities for participation in the knowledge-sharing platform by gathering the industry leaders in this market.
Today the firm announced its largest ever round of promotions across offices in Almaty, Bishkek, Dushanbe and Tashkent.
The following promotions were announced, effective from 1 January 2019:
Senior Associates:
Managing Associate:
Associates:
Junior Associate:
Partner Umid Aripdjanov, who leads the firm's Energy practice from the Tashkent office, recently published a review of the energy sector 
in Uzbekistan for the Global Legal Insights 2019 publication.
The publication provides a general overview of the energy sector and gives an explanation of the recent rise in the interest for renewables in the country. As part of this review, Umid provides a detailed analysis of the government policies adopted over the recent past and a review of the developments in 2017-2018 under the presidency of Shavkat Mirziyoev.
The venture arm of Uzbekistan’s leading national payment processing company, UzCard, successfully closed an investment into IMAN investment company, as part of a $1m seed round led by Battery Road Digital Holdings (Singapore), and a number of other VC funds, including Tesla Capital, MyAsiaVC, and Le Mercier’s Capital among others.
The significance of the transaction included the complex legal aspects of the transaction, involving three jurisdictions, challenges from an Uzbek law perspective, and matters of Shari’a compliance. As part of our work we:
(i) carried out legal due diligence checks on various corporate, commercial and regulatory aspects of IMAN Group of companies’ activities in Uzbekistan;
(ii) commented and took part in negotiations over the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) under English law to ensure investor’s rights are protected, including the planned relocation of the parent company of Iman Group to Singapore; and
(iii) assisted the client with the satisfaction of condition precedents to investment.
Led by charismatic co-founders Rustam Rahmatov and Mark Zubov, the faith-driven ‘buy-now-pay-later’ company now has its eyes set for new horizons with the upcoming expansion across majority Muslim Asia Pacific countries.
Centil’s team was led by Senior Associates Husniddin Ochildiyev and Ulugbek Gulamov, and involved Associate Khayrullo Abdullaev, with the help of international English law consultant,) who advised on English and Uzbek law matters of the transaction. Husniddin commented: “We are delighted to have played a part in IMAN’s inspiring story. In addition, it is a great opportunity for Centil’s team to be involved in one of the first and most significant venture capital transactions in Uzbekistan, and demonstrates our capability to work on complex multi-jurisdictional transactions governed under English law.”
The firm’s team later took part in a conference organized by UzCard Ventures, where it spoke along with representatives from Tesla Capital and IMAN on the details of the transaction, and what it means for startups in Central Asia.
