Category: Greece

Koutalidis has advised Alpha Bank and Eurobank on the issuance of the up to EUR 300 million syndicated common bond loan by the Public Power Corporation.

According to the firm, the common bond loan is in the form of a revolving credit facility, for the financing of PPC’s general business needs. The term of the bond loan will be three years, with an extension option for another two years.

Alpha Bank acted as underwriter, initial mandated lead arranger, bondholder agent, paying agent, and initial bondholder, with Eurobank acting as mandated lead arranger and initial bondholder. The bond loan includes sustainability-linked KPI relating to the reduction of CO2 emissions by 40% by December 2022 (vs. 2019).

The firm did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Lefkothea Nteka has joined the Lambadarios Law Firm as a Partner and Head of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice.

According to Lambadarios, “Lefkothea has served at the Hellenic Competition Commission for 15 years, including five years as a Board member (Commissioner Rapporteur). While there, she worked on many large and high-profile cases across a range of sectors. She also contributed to the design of the regulator’s policy framework and operations and helped promote its place in the network of European competition authorities.”

Prior to joining Lambadarios, in addition to the HCC, Nteka spent almost five years in private practice and two and half years with D.K. Avgitidis & Associates. She is a graduate of the Ethnikon kai Kapodistriakon Panepistimion Athinon and Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

DLA Piper has advised the Hellenic Republic in negotiations with the European Commission to resolve a ‘Greek lignite and electricity markets’ antitrust case.

According to DLA Piper, this resulted in the Hellenic Republic proposing new commitments, which were accepted by the European Commission on September 1, 2021, and made legally binding. “This case dates back to 2008 when the European Commission issued its first decision expressing concerns regarding the impact on the Greek electricity market of the Hellenic Republic previously granting exclusive access of lignite to the Public Power Corporation.”

According to the firm, “following appeals before the European courts, further Commission decisions and an attempt to resolve the case in 2018 through a remedy consisting of the divestment of certain PPC’s lignite plants, the Hellenic Republic submitted, on September 1, 2021, a revised remedy. This entails the sale of quarterly forward electricity products on the organized exchanges of the European Energy Exchange (EEX) and/or the Hellenic Energy Exchange (HEnEx), thus giving PPC’s competitors access to wholesale electricity on the forward market and helping them hedge against price volatility. The proposed remedy will lapse when existing lignite plants stop operating commercially (expected by 2023) or, at the latest, by December 31, 2024.”

DLA Piper’s team included Partner Orestis Omran, Senior Associates Stella Mavrommati and Andreas Politis, and Associate Panagiota Skiathiti.

Bernitsas Law, working with Allen & Overy, has advised Eurobank on the EUR 500 million issuance of senior preferred instruments due 2028. Clifford Chance advised Barclays, Citibank, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, and JP Morgan as the joint lead managers.

The transaction was signed on September 10 and closed on September 14, 2021. The notes were offered to institutional investors pursuant to a book-building process and are listed on the Euro MTF Market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The Bernitsas Law team was led by Partner Nikos Papachristopoulos.

Kyriakides Georgopoulos has advised Lightsource BP on its acquisition of a 200-megawatt photovoltaics portfolio from Greek renewable energy developer Kiefer Tek.

Active in 14 countries, Lightsource BP is an international solar power developer and operator, focusing on creating low-carbon solar energy projects while boosting biodiversity.

Kiefer Tek is a Greek construction company operating in the field of renewable energy, providing integrated solutions for energy systems and primary sector systems like greenhouses and livestock farms.

“This is a landmark moment for our large-scale solar development team in Greece, which has been working on local opportunities for less than a year,” commented Lightsource BP Director of International Business Development Vlasios Souflis. “We have entered the market in partnership with local experts Kiefer Tek who have been instrumental in helping us establish our presence.”

The firm did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

With the country experiencing one of its record-breaking tourism seasons and the business sector booming, there are a lot of reasons to see the sun shining brightly in Greece, even with summer at an end, according to AKL Managing Partner Helen Alexiou.

“The government is doing a good job and enjoys very favorable support, with some 35% of citizens and a good portion of the business community approving of their work,” Alexiou begins. “All businesses, both foreign and domestic, are pleased with the way things are going and with the governmental reforms that have digitized a lot of public services, eased the bureaucratic load, reformed the tax environment, and the like.” 

Also, with the EU recovery fund mechanism in full gear, Alexiou reports that companies that have been impacted most by the pandemic will finally grow too. “In addition, tourism was also at a very high level this year, possibly as high as ever – which came as a little bit of a surprise, event to the hospitality sector itself!” 

Alexiou believes that the government is making all the right moves – resulting in vast capital injections for over a year now. “Deals that were formerly frozen are now thawing and, overall, the past year – especially the last quarter – was quite good,” she says.

“Greenfield developments are taking off, and with that, there are two important legislative updates to share,” Alexiou says. “The first bill is in the public consultation stage and is expected to pass soon. It alters the thresholds for special licensing procedures, which will, in turn, increase investor security.” Alexiou reports that this will speed up the pace of commerce and is a very important tool for greenfield investments. 

The second legislative update relates to real estate projects: “One of the main issues in Greece is that you cannot construct a building unless it is connected to an officially recognized road – which is a problem if you live in a country where only a small part of the official road network has been properly characterized as such.” The update is set to facilitate and secure the procedure for acquiring a building permit by tackling this issue and, thus, impacting both the real estate and the construction sectors.

Finally, Alexiou reports on a major deal that just closed – the Elliniko investment project. “For almost a decade now, we’ve had the privilege to work on the largest project in Greece ever. The Greek state finally green-lit the commencement and it is expected that this will have a huge positive impact on the market and will create a vast array of new jobs,” she concludes.

Zepos & Yannopoulos has advised technology venture capital fund Nabtesco Technology Ventures on leading a EUR 5 million investment round into maritime technology start-up DeepSea Technologies. The Signal Group and existing investor ETF Partners participated in the round.

Nabtesco Technology Ventures is a corporate venture fund, investing primarily in robotics, motors, sensors, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and IoT.

DeepSea Technologies is a Cyprus-based maritime technology company, specializing in vessel performance monitoring and optimization. According to Zepos & Yannopoulos, the investment will assist DeepSea’s further technological and product research, design, and development.

“The decision to invest in DeepSea is fully in line with our dedication to engage with promising start-ups and support talented and passionate entrepreneurs. The DeepSea team is developing innovative technologies that can make a lasting impact in the shipping industry and help the sector to overcome the severe environmental challenges that it is facing,” commented Nabtesco Technology Ventures Managing Partner Hiroshi Nerima.

The Zepos & Yannopoulos team was led by Partner Athina Skolarikou and Senior Associate Antonis Giannakodimos.

The firm did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

KLC has advised the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund on the privatization of Egnatia Motorway.

According to KLC, this project has “recorded the highest amount (EUR 1,496 billion) ever offered for an asset privatization in Greece.”

The firm did not provide additional details.

This article sets out the legislative and regulatory framework governing the protection of personal data in Greece.

GDPR

The main legislation regarding the protection of personal data in Greece is the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU)2016/679), in force from May 25, 2018. According to article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the GDPR is directly applicable to all Member States, which are required to take necessary steps to adapt their national legislation to it.

General Principles: Data must be processed by the data controller in compliance with seven general principles: lawfulness, fairness, and transparency; purpose limitation; data minimization; accuracy; storage limitation; integrity and confidentiality (security); and accountability.

Lawful Basis for Processing and Security of Processing: Data controllers can only process personal data in the following six circumstances: (1) if the data subject gives his or her explicit consent; (2) to meet contractual obligations entered into by the data subject; (3) to meet a legal obligation under EU or national legislation; (4) to protect the data subject’s or of another natural person’s vital interests; (5) where processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest under EU or national legislation; or (6) for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the data controller.

Rights of the Data Subject: All data subjects have the following rights relating to the processing of their personal data: the Right to Information (data subjects have the right to know how their personal data is being used); the Right of Access (data subjects have the right to request access to the personal data that is being processed; the Right to Rectification (data subjects have the right to request the rectification of incorrect or incomplete data); the Right to Erasure (also known as the “Right to be Forgotten,” meaning that data subjects have the right to request the deletion or removal of their personal data permanently); the Right to Restriction of Processing (data subjects have the right to block or suppress the processing of their personal data); the Right to Data Portability (data subjects have the right to move, copy, or transfer their personal data from one data controller to another, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format); the Right to Object to Processing (data subjects have the right to object (in certain circumstances) to the processing of their personal data); the Right to Avoid Automated Decision-Making (data subjects have the right to demand human intervention, rather than having important decisions made solely by algorithm).

The Greek Legal Framework

The key Greek laws regarding personal data protection are: L. 4624/2019 (Government Gazette A137) which lays out the measures for the implementation of the GDPR and incorporates Directive (EU) 2016/680 (which regulates the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection, or prosecution of criminal offenses or the execution of criminal penalties) into Greek law; L. 2472/1997, which provides for the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data (L. 2472/1997 has been repealed, except for the provisions referred to expressly in Article 84 of Law 4624/2019); and L. 3471/2006, which incorporates Directive 2002/58/EC (the “E-Privacy Directive”), as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC, and which is complementary and specific to the institutional framework for the protection of personal data in the field of electronic communications.

Also, every regulatory act and direction issued by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority is applicable. The HDPA is a constitutionally-established independent public authority tasked with supervising the application of national laws and other regulations concerning the protection of individuals from improper processing of personal data.

Special laws with crucial provisions relating to the protection of personal data (mainly) include L. 3917/2011, concerning the retention of data produced or processed with regards to the disposal of electronic communications or public networks of communication services and the usage of surveillance systems with sound or image recording in public places; L. 4579/2018, concerning the obligations of airplane operators with regards to passenger files and data, which also transposed Directive (EU) 2016/680; and L. 3783/2009 concerning the identification of owners and users of mobile telephony equipment and services.

By Marios Bahas, Managing Partner, and Vassilis Keramaris, Senior Associate, Bahas, Gramatidis & Partners

This Article was originally published in Issue 8.6 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates has advised GEK Terna SA and the Motor Oil Hellas Group on obtaining the concentration approval from the Hellenic Competition Commission for their EUR 385 million joint acquisition of Thermoelectric Komotini.

According to Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates, “on August 23, 2021, the Hellenic Competition Authority issued the Decision No. 744/21, unanimously approving the concentration notified on June 18, 2021, referring to the acquisition of joint control of the company under the name Thermoelectric Komotini Single Person Societe Anonyme, by the companies GEK Terna SA, a leader in renewable energy and construction and Motor Oil Renewable Energy SA, a member of the Motor Oil Hellas (MOH) Group, a conglomerate including refineries, renewable energy, shipping, and other activities.”

According to the firm, “Thermoelectric Komotini is a Special Purpose Vehicle company established to develop and operate a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine electricity plant” with a capacity of 877 megawatts.

Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates’ team included Senior Partner Gregory Pelecanos and Associate Constantine Beikos-Paschalis.