Karatzas & Partners

Managing Partner: Catherine-Marie Karatzas

Number of partners: 10

Number of other lawyers: 50

Languages: Greek, English, French, German, Italian

Firm Overview:

Karatzas & Partners Law Firm was founded in 1963, under the name Karatzas Law Offices. From its establishment, it has been active in the fields of civil, company, commercial and financial law, with its clientele being both Greek and international. We provide services in banking and finance law, capital markets law, competition law, energy law, mergers and acquisitions, privatization, project finance law, real estate law, telecommunications law, data protection, intellectual property, employment and tax law.We also specialize in litigation, both before courts and arbitral tribunals.

Main Areas of Practice:

Banking:

Karatzas & Partners advises on all aspects of banking and finance, including project finance, structured finance, secured and syndicated loan transactions, as well as derivatives and other OTC or listed products and securitisation.

Mergers & Acquisitions:

The firm has advised many international clients on M&A transactions in Greece.

Securities:

The firm advises both Greek and international clients active in Greece on all aspects of securities law, such as initial public offerings, regulation of business conduct of securities firms and listed companies, bond issues and takeover bids. The firm routinely represents its clients before the Hellenic Capital Market Commission and the Athens Exchange.

Corporate:

Karatzas & Partners advises on issues such as the establishment of companies and joint ventures in Greece, spin-offs of Greek companies, stock option schemes, marketing law and due diligence. It is also involved in the running of the day to day legal affairs of a number of major Greek companies with international activities.

Competition:

The firm advises international clients on all aspects of Greek and EU competition law such as merger control, vertical restraints, abuse of dominant position and concerted practices.

Litigation:

The firm represents several national and international clients before international arbitral tribunals and Greek courts and advises Greek or foreign arbitrators on litigation in the fields of banking law and commercial law.

Intellectual Property:

Karatzas & Partners has, in recent years, expanded its practice considerably in the field of intellectual property law. Current activities include trademark portfolio management, registration and litigation.

Clients:

The firm’s clients include foreign banks and multinational corporations such as Barclays, Citibank, Coca-Cola Company, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Goodyear, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Unilever and Wrigley. The firm also co-operates routinely with major legal firms, such as Allen & Overy, Cleary Gottlieb, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters, Shearman & Sterling, Simpson Thacher and Bartlett, Skadden Arps, Slaughter and May and White & Case.

International Work:

Karatzas & Partners has extensive experience in advising international clients in relation to many different types of transactions and legal fields. The firm has been involved in some of the major transactions in Greece in the last few years with a strong international element.

Examples of recent projects include:

■ Advising advised Saudi Electricity Company(SEC), Saudi Arabia's leading generator and electricity provider, in relation to the formation, through its subsidiary, National Grid S.A., of a strategic partnership with the IPTO-Independent Power Transmission Operator(IPTO). Our firm also advised and assisted with the incorporation of the special purpose company ‘Saudi Greek Interconnection S.A.’ between the two parties with the view to conducting the viability study for the implementation of the Greece - Saudi Arabia electricity interconnection.

■ Advising PRODEA Investments in the acquisition of an additional 55% stake in MHV GROUP, a leading hospitality platform in the Mediterranean, for a total consideration of €254 million.

■ Advising National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank and Eurobank, in their capacity as Joint Coordinators and Bookrunners, in connection with the offering of €100 million bonds issued by Ideal Holdings S.A. and listed on the Athens Exchange.

■ Advising Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF / ΤΑΙΠΕΔ)and Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings S.A. (POIH) in connection with the sale of 11% in HELLENiQ ENERGY Holdings S.A.

■ Advising National Bank of Greece in the disposal of a 22% stake in NBG by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, valued at approximately €1.1 billion; the largest Greek Equity Capital Market transaction in the last two years and the largest secondary placement in Greece since 2005.

■ Advising Lazard Frères SAS, the disposal advisor of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, in connection with the acquisition of the entire stake of HFSF in Alpha Services and Holdings S.A. (Alpha) by UniCredit S.p.A. (UniCredit). A competitive process has been triggered by a binding offer from UniCredit, resulting in Unicredit purchasing HFSF’s stake, representing approx. 8.98% of Alpha’s share capital.

■ Advising Pharmathen, a leading European complex drug delivery and formulation developer, and its shareholder, Partners Group, in connection with the acquisition of CBL Patras S.A., a leading vertically integrated and FDA-approved peptide manufacturer and supplier in Europe.