Category: Greece

The IAG law firm in Greece has successfully represented the Board of Alpha Bank before the Athens Court of Appeals in a dispute involving charges of breach of trust in relation to multi-million loans granted to, according to IAG, a “well-known publishing company and its principal that ran into financial difficulties.”

According to IAG, “after a lengthy trial hearing, [the Court] held that the defendants did not breach legal or best practice rules which governed the granting and/or restructuring of loans to companies or individuals, but acted within the limits of the business judgment rule.”

The IAG team included Managing Partner Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Attorney at Law Jerina Zapanti. 

KLC has acted as external legal counsel to the European Investment Bank on its set up of the Infrastructure Fund of Funds, designed to finance projects in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable urban infrastructure with funds up to a total amount of EUR 450 million.

According to KCL “The EIB has entered into operational agreements with National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank and the consortium of Alpha Bank & Eurobank Ergasias, which are to be financial intermediaries in channeling the funds of InfraFoF along with their own co-financing funds to eligible projects in Greece.”

The KLC team is led by Managing Partner Panagiotis Tzioumas and included Senior Associates Georgia Mathiopoulou and Arianna Chatzimarkou.

KLC did not reply to our inquiry on the matter. 

KLC has been appointed as external legal counsel to the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund in relation to the recent corporate governance reforms adopted by an unidentified Greek systemic bank.

According to HFSF, “a series of changes in the governance structure of the bank proposed by HFSF including, among others, the composition of the bank’s board of directors, were approved by the Ordinary General Assembly of its shareholders.”

The KLC team was led by the Partner Kostas Loukopoulos.

KLC did not reply to our inquiry on the matter. 

Zepos & Yannopoulos has advised both the buyer and the seller on Greek aspects of the acquisition by MacGregor, a subsidiary of Cargotec Oyj, of the marine and offshore businesses of TTS Group ASA for approximately EUR 87 million. Norway’s Wikborg Rein law firm advised TTS Group ASA and Norway’s Bahr law firm advised Cargotec’s MacGregor.

TTS Group ASA is a global provider of handling solutions and access systems and services for the marine and offshore industries.

The Zepos & Yannopoulos team was led by Partner Stefanos Charaktiniotis, supported by Associates Stathis Orfanoudakis, Danai Falconaki, and Georgina Karaindrou.

Zepos & Yannopoulos has advised CarVal Investors in its acquisition of an unsecured non-performing portfolio of credit cards, consumer loans, small business loans, and small & medium enterprises loans with a total principal amount of almost EUR 1.2 billion from the National Bank of Greece. NBG was advised by Karatzas & Partners.

The Zepos & Yannopoulos team included Partners Kely Pesketzi and Maria Zoupa, Senior Associate Paris Tzoumas, and Associates Niki Ignatidi and Mariliza Grammatopoulou.

The Karatzas & Partners team was led by Partner Christina Faitakis and Senior Associate Christos Paraskevopoulos.

Papapolitis & Papapolitis has advised lead underwriters Eurobank S.A. and Piraeus Bank S.A. on the EUR 175 million Attica Holdings bond issuance.

According to P&P, the deal represents the first-ever publicly offered and listed bond issue in Greece secured with real security — in this case ferry vessels. The firm reports that it advised the underwriters “in relation to all aspects of the issuer’s legal due diligence, prospectus drafting, [and] bond program and [on] the bond’s offering and listing with the Athens Stock Exchange.”

Papapolitis & Papapolitis did not reply to our inquiries about counsel for Attica Holdings.

Zepos & Yannopoulos is advising a consortium of funds advised by affiliates of Centerbridge Partners and Elliott Advisors on their acquisition of a secured NPL portfolio of approximately 12,800 secured non-performing small business lending and SME loans with an outstanding principal amount of approximately EUR 0.9 billion from NBG SA.

According to Zeya, “we assisted the consortium from the very preparatory stages of [the project] and submission of binding offers to the negotiation and execution of the sale and purchase agreement, on to the drafting and negotiation of all ancillary operational agreements. The transaction followed the market trend for this type of secured portfolios, applying the Greek securitization law 3156/2003 as a sale and transfer tool. This is the first-ever Greek deal implementing the securitization features under a Greek law governed receivables’ sale and purchase agreement.”

The firm’s team was led by Partner Christina Papanikolopoulou and Senior Associate Paris Tzoumas and included Partner Kely Pesketzi, Of Counsel Kitty Fragalexi, Senior Associate Mary Nigritinou, and Associates Athina Palli, Niki Ignatidi, and Alexis Kontogiannis.

Zepos & Yannopoulos has advised Orkla Food Ingredients AS on its takeover bid of all shares of Athens Exchange-listed Stelios Kanakis S.A.

The EUR 32.7 million transaction has been approved by the Hellenic Capital Markets Commission.

The Zepos & Yannopoulos team included Partner Elena Papachristou and Associate Alexandros Georgiou.

Papapolitis & Papapolitis has advised London & Regional Properties on its acquisition of the Titania Hotel, in the heart of the historical and commercial center of Athens.

London & Regional Properties is a private real estate and leisure investment firm based in London. It reportedly acquired the 385-room Titania for more than EUR 50 million. “Our Titania Hotel Athens invites you to peek into Ancient Greece,” L+R Hotels announced. “The hotel is situated in the city center, overlooking the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient landmarks such as the Parthenon temple, preserved sculptures and more, dating back to the 5th century BC.”

Papapolitis & Papapolitis did not reply to our request for more information.

Papapolitis & Papapolitis has advised the Soho House hotel chain on its acquisition of the Scorpios Beach Club and San Giorgio Hotel on the island of Mykonos.

Soho House is a hotel chain and group of private members’ clubs originally aimed at those in the arts and media. The company now operates clubs, hotels, and venues around the world.

Papapolitis & Papapolitis did not reply to our inquiries.