Our experienced Corporate, M&A and Commercial team advise on all aspects of corporate transactions including corporate establishments, legal due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and business restructurings, as well as on the drafting negotiation, legal structuring, implementation and legal enforcement of commercial contacts.
Our established practice also involves providing regular advice as general legal counsel to a number of key local and international players active in the Greek market in connection with the day-to-day running of their business operations in Greece.
Our practice focuses on the following:
- Company incorporation and organization;
- Establishment of Greek subsidiaries, branches and rep offices of foreign corporations;
- Mergers, acquisitions and takeovers including financing aspects thereof;
- Company housekeeping and corporate governance;
- Regulation of intra-company affairs and relationships with shareholders and directors;
- Legal due diligence in connection with corporate takeovers and share purchase agreements;
- Compliance with applicable company rules, regulatory requirements and formalities;
- Restructurings, insolvency and liquidation of companies and corporate groups;
- Drafting, negotiating and advising on implementation and legal compliance aspects of complex commercial contracts, including joint venture, commercial agency, licensing, franchising and distribution agreements.
Recent highlight transactions include:
- acting as legal counsel to Piraeus Container Terminal SA, a fully owned subsidiary of COSCO Group, in relation to the restructuring and expansion of the concession of the Piraeus port container terminal, the negotiation thereof with the Contracting Authority (Piraeus Port Authority SA), and the implementation of an amendment agreement to the original Concession Agreement to provide inter alia for the materialization of multimillion-worth new infrastructure investments;
- advising COSCO (Hong Kong) Group Limited and COSCO Pacific Limited in connection with their participation in the tender for the acquisition of a majority stake in the share capital of Piraeus Port Authority SA, the operator of Greece’s largest port;
- advising Dragados SA, the construction arm of the ACS Group, in connection with its participation in a joint venture bidding for the award of the concession contracts relating to the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a new international airport in Heraklion, Crete, in response to the relevant international tender launched by the Greek State. Our services have included the drafting of Head of Terms agreements, MoUs and JV agreements relevant to the project;
- assisting the concessionaire companies for the construction and long-term operation of the Ionia Odos and Central Greece (E65) Motorways in relation to the renegotiation of the original concession agreements with the Greek State and the introduction of business restructuring arrangements to allow for the recommencement of the construction works and the contribution of additional project finance resources for the implementation of the projects;
- providing general legal support on corporate and commercial matters to the Greek arm of DANONE including: drafting and negotiating agreements for commercial transactions including supply contracts, distribution, debt acknowledgment and licensing agreements; attending corporate housekeeping matters and matters of compliance with Greek company law rules; and representing and supporting the company in commercial litigation before the Greek courts;
- acting as legal counsel to Airbus Group (former EADS Group) in relation to 6 million-worth bond loan for the financing of the Group’s participation in PPP transaction consisting in the building and management of elementary schools in Greece;
- providing general corporate and commercial legal support to MEC Medianetwork Hellas SA, a Greek subsidiary of WPP Group, including: drafting and negotiating lease agreements and supply contracts; advising on corporate governance aspects and relationships with shareholders and directors; attending all corporate housekeeping matters of the company; and representing the company in commercial litigation before the Greek courts;
- acting as general legal counsel to EPA Attica, the natural gas supplier for the Greater Athens Area, representing the company in all kinds of commercial disputes and cases, drafting, reviewing and negotiating all kinds of contracts and attending the entire range of housekeeping matters relevant to the company’s daily operations and providing legal opinions and advice to the company’s management on a broad spectrum of issues encroaching on company law, intellectual and industrial property, privacy and data protection laws and compliance with Greek laws and regulations in general;
- assisting TGI Friday’s in establishing and operating its restaurants franchise network in Greece and Cyprus.
