On February 7th, the Athens International Airport S.A. (AIA) made its debut on the Main Market of the Regulated Securities Market of the Athens Exchange. The IPO was the first in Europe for 2024 and the first combined offering in Greece for more than two decades, and involved the offering of 90 million AIA shares to retail and institutional investors in Greece and to institutional investors outside Greece. The shares were offered at the upper end of the price range, and the international book had a 10.8 times oversubscription. This transaction epitomises the strong comeback of the Greek economy over the past five years and signifies a successful divestment by the Hellenic Development Assets Fund, the entity entrusted with implementing the privatisation program of the Hellenic Republic, of its 30% stake in AIA.
Zepos & Yannopoulos acted as Greek counsel to the Joint Global Coordinators, Bank of America Securities and Morgan Stanley, as well as the Listing Advisor and Co-Lead Manager, Eurobank, and provided a transaction legal opinion to the Managers. The team, led by Christina Papanikolopoulou, head of Finance and Capital Markets, included capital markets lawyers Elena Papachristou, partner, Efthymis Naoumis, senior associate, and Alexis Kontogiannis and Katerina Chalka, associates.
Dimitris Babiniotis, head of Dispute Resolution, Danae Papadatou, senior associate and Emmanouil Mavrantonakis, associate, advised on dispute resolution matters. Theodore Konstantakopoulos, head of TMT & Data and Yolanda Antoniou-Rapti, senior associate, advised on data protection matters, while Natalia Kapsi, senior associate, advised on IP issues. Sonia Melegou, head of Real Estate and Mary Georgiou, senior associate, advised on real estate matters. Rania Papakonstantinou, head of Employment & Labour and Alexandros Lamprou, associate, advised on labour matters, while Nasia Gkouma, partner and Nikos Koukos, senior associate, advised on aviation regulatory matters. Daphne Cozonis, partner and Ioanna Tapeinou, senior associate, advised on tax matters, while Alexis Karopoulos, partner, advised on tax dispute resolution matters.
''Congratulations to AIA, its shareholders and the ATHEX for a truly landmark transaction. We are very excited to have worked on a deal that marks the regeneration of the Greek capital markets and of the Greek economy in general. We look forward to staying at the forefront of economic developments in Greece in the years to come'', commented Christina Papanikolopoulou.