Banking & Finance

Koutalidis Law Firm is established in the market as one of the leading Greek law firms in the field of Banking & Finance, being present in key, as well as complex transactions in all areas of Financial Law, ranging from the traditional Banking & Finance transactions to leveraged buy-outs, bank recapitalizations, NPL portfolio sales and other securitizations, as well as sovereign and corporate debt restructuring.

With an experience spanning for more than 30 years, we have always been committed to offer practical and, where needed, innovative solutions to our clients addressing successfully their business interests in a wide range of transactions. Our intensive work, high level of expertise and business result-oriented approach has been consistently recognized by leading international legal reviews. We have thus been constantly ranked as a top tier firm in Banking & Finance and have been repeatedly nominated as Greek Law Firm of the Year for our work.

Our Banking & Finance department is very well known and an established market leader for its transaction oriented and pragmatic advice and solutions. In line with our firm’s philosophy, we build on the long-standing and in-depth knowledge of the Greek and international financial markets, in order to deliver high-level quality services to our clients. This is why our practice is known as a “hands on”, “delivering on time” and “adding value” with experienced and fully dedicated lawyers consistently providing uncompromising excellence.

We have been advising lenders and borrowers ranging from international and Greek credit and financial institutions to major domestic and multinational companies in a variety of transactions, including corporate finance, securitizations, acquisition finance, asset or structured finance, in the form bond loans, credit facilities, secured or unsecured, bilateral or syndicated, as well as OTC derivatives and related collateral arrangements. The transactions we have been involved in cover a wide variety of industries, such as construction, energy (oil, gas, renewable energy sources), utilities, telecommunications, media, pharmaceuticals, food industry and financial services.

Further, during recent years, we have continuously supported the Greek banks, as well as governmental authorities in respect of the recapitalization of Greek banks in the context of the financial support programs for Greece. Our Banking & Finance team also continuously supports Greek, but also international credit and financial institutions in respect of their regulatory and compliance matters.

Services

Our practice covers the wide spectrum of services provided under the sector of Banking & Finance, including, among others, the following:

• corporate finance,
• sovereign and corporate debt restructuring,
• sale and management of NPLs and NPEs,
• securitizations,
• financial services regulation and compliance,
• acquisition finance / Leveraged buyouts,
• asset finance / structured finance,
• mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of banks and financial institutions,
• OTC derivatives and related collateral arrangements,
• factoring and true sale arrangements.

Corporate Finance

Acting both on domestic and cross-border transactions, our services cover all types of corporate lending, including indicatively secured and unsecured, syndicated and bilateral loans, issuance of bonds and other debt instruments, provision of corporate and personal guarantees and security packages including all kinds of collateral over the assets of the borrowers.

Our advice covers all aspects of corporate financing, including, among others, structuring of the transaction, the main finance documentation, the security package, as well as advice on any related regulatory and licensing issues, but also complex tax issues.

In particular, our services include:

• transaction structuring and implementation,
• all financing and refinancing aspects and documentation of the transaction until its financial closing, including through commercial bank loans, bilateral/syndicated facilities, term loan financings, as well as shareholder guarantees and financings,
• development of effective and complex security packages and their perfection,
• advice on all related regulatory and licensing issues,
• tax issues.

Restructuring & Insolvency

The Greek market is emerging from almost a decade of deep financial crisis during which our Firm continued to support its clients in all types of debt restructuring transactions. We have been actively involved in the most prominent cases in this field, from the PSI, the world’s largest debt-restructuring deal in history affecting some €206bn of bonds in the context of Eurogroup’s bailout package for Greece, to liability management exercises for Greek banks and listed entities with capital markets exposure, as well as some of the most complex private debt restructurings affecting important sectors of the Greek market, such as the notable cases of Frigoglass, the Greek Fishfarms Selonda and Nireus and SIDMA- BITROS, prominent representatives of the steel industry in Greece.

Our firm has had the privilege of advising IFIs, foreign institutional investors and ISDA in all aspects of their exposure to Greek government and private sector debt, preparing a full review and analysis of the €350bn Greek Government Debt and its cross default and acceleration provisions.

We have been involved in major key and equally complex restructurings of various kinds, acting both on the lenders’/investors’ side (both domestic and international), as well as on the debtors’ side. Companies under restructuring in the transactions we were involved operate in various sectors of the Greek economy, including indicatively mining & metals, food industry, media, health care and financial services.

In particular, our advice covers debt restructuring proceedings but also out-of-court private refinancing and rescheduling schemes. In collaboration with our highly esteemed Arbitration, Litigation & Mediation Department, we also advise on court-driven pre-bankruptcy proceedings, including reorganization and special administration proceedings. Our services cover all aspects of the restructuring process of distressed companies, including advice and support for structuring and drafting of documentation until the financial close.

NPLs/NPEs and securitizations

Our Firm has been advising banks and corporate originators, as well as investors in securitization transactions ever since the implementation of the Greek securitization framework in 2003.

In recent years, we have been heavily involved in advising Greek banks, funds and finance providers in relation to the sale of NPL exposures and the assignment of servicing to licensed servicers, providing solutions to cover the parties’ ever changing needs. Koutalidis Law Firm advised the 4 systemic banks for the establishment of the first common servicing platform regarding NPLs of SMEs and has been also engaged in the sale of Eurobank’s servicing subsidiary coupled with the assignment of a long term servicing agreement for the bank’s NPL exposures.

Our services cover all aspects of the transactions including:

• performing portfolio due diligence, highlighting legal risks and advising on all relevant regulatory and compliance related aspects,
• drafting all necessary contractual documentation, such as the sale and purchase agreements, servicing agreements and financing and security related documents,
• assisting with structuring of the transaction either under the Greek Securitization Law or the NPE Law, also from a tax perspective.

Nikos Koritsas
Managing Partner
    +30 210 360 7811
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    nkoritsas@koutalidis.gr






Ioannis Kaptanis
Partner
    +30 210 360 7811
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    gkaptanis@koutalidis.gr






Effie Papoutsi
Partner
    +30 210 360 7811
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    epapoutsi@koutalidis.gr