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The Buzz From Greece: Interview with Nicholas Papapolitis of Papapolitis & Papapolitis

The Buzz From Greece: Interview with Nicholas Papapolitis of Papapolitis & Papapolitis

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“First of all,” said Nicholas Papapolitis, Managing Partner of Papapolitis & Papapolitis, “there was a very big debate, and a very big pause, on everything that had to do with investment in Greece and Greek businesses up until the completion of the first Review by the Troika.”

That first Review happened in May, after which, Papapolitis said, “there was some real positivity, including a sense of new interest, specifically by foreign capital.” The demonstration by the Greek government of its ability to make the necessary reforms has created a real “change in atmosphere,” he said, and a real increase in interest.

There’s also been a significant amount of legislative reform as well, Papapolitis noted, particularly in the Greek Civil Code, which has been amended "in order for the enforcement to become faster for lenders who have lent money in the Greek market.” In addition, Papapolitis, said, "we have created a new framework for the acquisition, servicing, and management of non-performing loans.” All of this is “towards the positive,” he said, “for the first time in a long time.”

Also, he said, the ECB has announced that Greek banks has received a waiver, resulting in almost a half billion euros of increased liquidity for the banks. And now there are discussions to have Greece — if the country successfully completed the Troika’s second review in October 2016, to also be included in the ECB program of quantitative easing.

Papapolitis is unquestionably enthusiastic about the changes, but he warns that the effects of last week’s Brexit on the Greek economy are difficult to predict, leading to yet another period of uncertainty.

Business for law firms is “definitely” picking up as a result of interest from foreign credit institutions and financial investors purchasing assets from banks, and M&As are slowly picking up as well, with his own firm preparing to announce its involvement in a major M&A in the next few weeks. Papapolitis explains that the large firms suffered a great deal from the recent years of crisis, and some laid off of people as well, and while that process seems to have concluded, he’s not seeing any rebound in headcounts just yet. In addition, he sighed, the government has recently instituted a new pension scheme for “freelance professionals” (which includes lawyers, doctors, and engineers), increasing insurance payments made through the public pension fund five times.

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