Kyriakides Georgopoulos has advised GlaxoSmithKline on the EUR 12 million sale and partial leaseback of its corporate headquarters office building to the ATHEX listed Intercontinental International REIC.

Zepos & Yannopoulos and CMS France have advised Axa Mediterranean Holding on the sale of Greek subsidiary Axa Insurance to Italian insurance group Generali for a consideration of EUR 167 million.

Drakopoulos has advised the TUI Group on its sale of 100% of the shares in an unspecified SPV, which owns a hotel and a 75,000-square-meter plot of land in Ermioni, Greece, to an unidentified consortium of investors.

Bernitsas Law has acted as Greek law counsel to industrial and energy company Mytilineos SA on its issuance of EUR 500 million aggregate principal amount senior notes due 2026, and on the listing of the notes on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange’s Euro MTF market.

Greece’s real estate sector has always contributed significantly to the development of the nation’s economy. It has to be noted that Greece is a country where home ownership rates are among the highest in Europe. Also, real estate was traditionally considered by most Greeks as a rather safe investment. Thus, real estate is favorably affected by tourism, which is another huge sector of the Greek economy. All of these factors led to the sector’s remarkable growth, which peaked in 2007.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised PPC Renewables S.A. and its Iliaka Parka Dytikis Makedonias 1 S.A. subsidiary on financing for a EUR 8.7 million project for the construction of a 15MW photovoltaic park in Ptolemaida, Greece, from National Bank of Greece and Eurobank. The European Investment Bank has also been provided with the right to participate in the financings.

The Koutalidis Law Firm has advised Alpha Bank on its demerger by way of a hive-down of its banking sector to a new banking entity.

Lilian Kontou has joined the TAE – SOL Group in Athens as Legal Director.

DLA Piper, working with Potamitis Vekris in Greece, Bojanovic & Partners in Serbia, and Tashko Pustina in Albania, has advised Team.Blue on its acquisition of the Enartia Group from founders Aggela Anthoulaki, Dimitris Anthoulakis, and Frank Maounis. The Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm advised the sellers.

Zepos & Yannopoulos has advised Intrum Justicia and Intrum Hellas on Project Phoenix, a securitization of a non-performing residential mortgage loan portfolio of gross book value of circa EUR 1.92 billion owned by Piraeus Bank. 

Bernitsas Law has advised CVC Capital Partners on the acquisition by Venetiko Holdings SMSA, a Greek company that is 100% owned by funds managed or advised by CVC, of an approximately 99.47% stake in Vivartia Holdings from the Marfin Investment Group and Piraeus Bank, as well as on the financial restructuring of Vivartia’s group bank debt.

Bernitsas Law has advised Citigroup Global Market Limited on the placement of 3.86% of Jumbo SA’s shares in in an accelerated book-building process. Koutalidis advised the unspecified seller on the deal.

Souriadakis Tsibris has assisted Mytilineos S.A. with its successful application for permission to use Flash Notes to publish its preliminary financial results, making it the first Greek issuer to do so.

Zepos & Yannopoulos and Clifford Chance have advised the Piraeus Bank on its entrance into an agreement with Christofferson, Robb & Company for the synthetic securitization of the bank’s EUR 1.4 billion performing SME and corporate loans portfolio. Souriadakis Tsibris and Simmons & Simmons advised CRC.

For our Checking In feature, we reach out to partners and heads of practice across CEE to learn how specific practice areas are faring in their jurisdictions. This time around we asked Data Protection experts: Overall, how compliant would you say economic agents are with relevant local regulations on data protection, and what are the main gaps that have yet to be addressed?

Zepos & Yannopoulos has advised PPC S.A., the largest generator and supplier of electricity in Greece, on its inaugural international offering of EUR 650 million 3.875% sustainability-linked senior notes due 2026.

Kyriakides Georgopoulos has advised the US private equity firm Drew International on its acquisition of Flow Water Technologies' drinking water and disinfection business in Cyprus.

Koutalidis has advised Alpha Bank S.A. on its second consecutive EUR 500 million Tier 2 bond issuance.