Myron B. Rabij

Myron B. Rabij, is a Partner in our Corporate & Securities Law practice in Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP’s New York City office. Mr. Rabij is a highly experienced, multi-lingual, corporate, and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) attorney focuses his practice on M&A, joint venture and corporate transactions, and project finance with industry expertise in Energy and IT.

In addition to being seasoned in upstream oil & gas work, solar RES, he also represents cross-border real estate developers from greenfield acquisitions through tenant leasing and has a niche practice in IT service contracts and extensive privatization experience in Eastern Europe.

Myron represents U.S., Canadian, European and other multinational clients in structuring and negotiating joint ventures, acquisitions and exits, corporate and commercial work and related due diligence, corporate governance, company start-up and regulatory issues, project financing, capital raises as well as compliance.  He also has deep niche practice experience in energy (oil & gas, LNG and solar) and in various venture tech and blockchain start-ups, including token legal issues. Having lived in Kyiv, Ukraine for over 22 years, Myron is fluent in English, Russian and Ukrainian and has extensive and varied cross-border transactional experience in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine.

Prior to joining the firm, he was in private practice in Manhattan from January 2020 to April 2022 and from 1995 to 2020 was a Partner affiliated with several large national and global law firms, providing advisory legal services to oil, gas, LNG energy companies as well as more recently, emerging blockchain token issuing start-up companies doing “outside” in-house counsel work.  His background also includes cross-border acquisitions and exits, joint venture formation and negotiation, LNG purchase, sales, and structuring of US upstream acquisition/upstream exit with sale and debt restructuring.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Joint Ventures, Acquisitions and Exits: acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic exits in the energy (primarily cross-border) and real estate development sectors, capital raises and financing, strategic investor involvement, placements, FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) and compliance issues, trust and anti-competition issues.

Corporate and Commercial:  contract negotiations ranging from various cross-border purchase-sales for goods, corporate assets and shares, investment agreements, shareholder agreements, corporate documentation, security arrangements, management services arrangements, related regulatory support for industry, banks, FMCG, agricultural players, emerging company and venture tech sector.

Energy:  Significant experience in all stages of upstream oil and gas acquisitions and exits domestic and foreign, cross-border LNG trades, solar energy development projects and midstream finance. Represent independent oil and gas producers from market entry acquisitions, field exploration and drilling, financings and portfolio expansions to exits; solar power developers through JV acquisitions, financing and plant construction and supply and installation contracts; LNG traders on purchase and sales agreements; and finance institutions on various credit arrangements.

Commercial Real Estate:  Represent international developers, international hotel operators, luxury brands and industrial investors in emerging markets, including retail and hotel flagship openings; shopping malls, logistic warehouses, commercial and residential high rises from greenfield land acquisition through tenant leasing, green and brown field factory expansions, including related construction contracts and financing.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Panelist: “Ukraine’s Economic Security,” for Ukraine’s Quest for Mature Nation Statehood Roundtable XX, Washington DC, October 10, 2019, CUSUR (Center for US-Ukraine Relations).
• Panelist: “Ukraine’s Energy Security Annual Report Card,” for the US-UA Working Group Yearly Summit VII June 13, 2019, Washington DC, CUSUR.
• Moderator/Organizer: March 4, 2019 at a private luncheon sponsored by USUBC and McCarter & English, Washington DC, for Daniel Bilak, Chairman, Ukraine Invest, Chief Adviser on Investment to the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
• “International Sales and Export Controls of US Defense and Dual-Use Items,” Ukraine Defense Forum, October 2018, Washington DC, CUSUR.
• Panelist: “Ukraine Energy Sector,” panel presentation for the US-UA Working Group Yearly Summit VI, Ukraine Energy Sector Presentation, Washington DC, June 14, 2018, CUSUR.
• Panelist: “Investment in Ukraine’s Energy Sector,” for the Ukraine Invest Conference held in NYC on March 5, 2018, A7 Invest and Dentons sponsors.
• Speaker: at the Dentons Renewable Energy Workshop held at Dentons London on January 24, 2017.
• Speaker: at the first “Ukrainian Gas Investment Forum ’16” that took place in Kyiv on March 23, 2016 (organized by Dentons in cooperation with A7 Conferences).
• Moderator: at the second “Ukrainian Gas Investment Forum ’17” that took place in Kyiv on March 23, 2017 (organized by Dentons in cooperation with A7 Conferences).
• Speaker & Moderator: at the A7 “Invest in Ukraine” conferences held annually in NYC in 2014, 2015, 2016 and in February 2017, with 2017 also including Toronto, Canada.
• Moderator: at a private roundtable with Andriy Kobolyev, CEO, and Yuriy Vitrenko, Director for Business Development, of National Joint Stock Company Naftogaz, Ukraine’s national gas company, hosted by the Atlantic Council and Dentons at Dentons NY offices;  June 17, 2016.
• Moderator: at a private roundtable with former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst and Dmytro Shymkiv, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, hosted by the Atlantic Council and Dentons at Dentons NY on 29 June 2016.
• Speaker: “The Impact of the Ukraine Crisis on the European Energy Sector” at the 66th Annual Oil & Gas Law Conference in Houston TX, February 19, 2015.
• Speaker: at the Briefing of the Center for US-Ukrainian Relations (CUSUR), also sponsored by the American Foreign Policy Council on Economic Reform and Energy Security, hosted at Dentons (NYC office), featuring then Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Andriy Parubiy, February 27, 2015.
• Moderator: of a Briefing of the Center for US-Ukrainian Relations (CUSUR) on Economic Reform and Energy Security, hosted at Dentons (Washington, DC) featuring then Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Andriy Parubiy May 1, 2017.
• Speaker: “The Economy & Energy” (Washington DC)  US-UA Working Group Yearly Summit III and Summit IV – Ukraine’s Annual Report Card, June 18, 2015,  June 16, 2016 and June 15, 2017.
• Organizer & Speaker: at Energy and the Canada Ukraine FTA, a Dentons-Toronto hosted Ukraine mini-conference for the Canadian-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce on June 14, 2017.
• Speaker: on Ukraine reforms in the energy sector at the Forum on Eliminating Corruption and Promoting Economic Development in Ukraine, sponsored by CEELI, Departments of State and Commerce, USAID, July 21, 2015, Prague, Czech Republic.
• Speaker: at the Ukraine-Technology Nation:  Ukrainian IT Forum in New York, organized by Razom for Ukraine and Civic Hall on December 16, 2016 and at their Tech Ecosystem Summit on 17 November 2017 in NYC.
• Speaker: Structuring Investments into Ukraine presentation at the A7 Conference Group, “Invest in Ukraine” Investment Forum, New York City, June 11, 2013.

PUBLICATIONS

• “Flexibility in Structuring Ukrainian Businesses:  Lessons from the US” opinion for Business Ukraine, October 7, 2021,
• “Confidentiality Issues in Today’s Ukrainian Legal Service Industry” Analysis for Business Ukraine, April 29, 2019,
• “The Unbundling of Naftogaz Ukraine – Tactical and Strategic Priorities and Challenges” (Co-author), published by International Energy Law Review, March, 2017.
• “Selling Brand Ukraine in 2017” published by Business Ukraine, January, 2017.
• “Ukrainian Upstream Private Oil & Gas Sector: To Be or Not to Be?” –  LinkedIn, April, 2016.
• “Ukrainian Recent Regulations On Feed-In Tariff Application”  LinkedIn, (Co-author), February, 2016.
• “Draft Law Simplifying Access of RES Producers to Land in Ukraine is Approved by a Key Parliamentary Committee” LinkedIn, (Co-author), February, 2016.
• “Update on Various Changes in Ukrainian Gas Sector during Holiday’s Period” LinkedIn, (Co-author), January, 2016.
• “Draft Law Changing Security Reserves Requirement” LinkedIn (Co-author), December, 2015.
• “Draft Law correcting certain provisions of feed-in tariff legislation in Ukraine” LinkedIn, (Co-author), December 2015.
• “Certain Laws Necessary for Functioning of Ukrainian Gas Market Are Adopted” LinkedIn, (Co-author), November 2015.
• “US Investment in Ukraine – Is there any Appetite,” published by Ukrainian Journal of Business Law, December, 2014.
• Ukraine chapter (co-authorship) in the Franchise Law Review, Edition 1, published in August 2014.
• “Hunkering Down in Kyiv” interviewed in article by Julie Triedman, The American Lawyer, published July 1, 2014.
• White Paper on Legal Reform in Ukraine, Summer 2014 and Fall 2015, a project initiated by the US Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) with the support of the US Embassy in Kyiv. I participated from the initiation of the project, providing substantive contributions and proposals as to legal reforms and also co-edited the White Paper in 2014 and updating in 2015.
• “I Want Authorities to be Afraid of a Third Maidan” Front Page Feature Interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Ukraine’s premier on-line news publication, published on December 5, 2014.

IN THE NEWS

• Interview with Voice of America – televised on March 13, 2015, regarding reforms in Ukraine, published in print online on April 23, 2015.
• Feature Interview with Kyiv Post (English language newspaper, Kyiv, Ukraine), April 12, 2012, Business Section, title “I do not anticipate any earth-shattering developments”.
• Interviewed by Kyiv Post, “Leading Ukrainian Law Firms Offer Tips for Buyers, Sellers About M&A Transactions” April 13, 2012.