Karatzas & Partners

Managing Partner: Catherine-Marie Karatzas

Number of partners: 10

Number of other lawyers: 46

Languages: Greek, English, French, German, Italian

Firm Overview

Karatzas & Partners law firm was established in 1963, and has since grown and expanded steadily. The firm offers legal services and advice on the entire spectrum of commercial and financial law, including banking and finance, capital markets, general corporate and commercial law, competition law/anti-trust, energy law, project finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate law, employment law, tax law, data protection and intellectual property, securities law and telecommunications law, with a client base in both Greece and abroad. The firm’s litigation department represents clients in litigation 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.

Energy:

Karatzas & Partners has strong experience in both oil & gas and power, including renewables, especially wind and solar. The firm has long been a market leader in energy projects, on both the project finance and the project development sides.

Employment:

The firm advises on a wide range of employment law matters, from the execution or termination of employment agreements and the provision of benefits and incentives to employees to downsizing and implementation of voluntary separations plans.

Tax:

The firm’s tax practice focuses on advising corporate clients across a wide range of matters in the area of direct and indirect taxation, both on a standalone basis and as an integrated part of corporate and financial transactions handled by its transactional teams, including with respect to securities offerings and financings.

Data Protection/ Privacy/ Cybersecurity:

Karatzas & Partners advises both domestic and international clients on all aspects of data protection and privacy law ranging from day-to-day matters related to the protection of privacy and GDPR compliance issues.

Clients

The firm’s clients over the years include foreign banks and multinational corporations such as Bank of America Securities Europe, Barclays, BC Partners, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Coca-Cola Company, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Goodyear, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Sazka Group, UBS Europe, Unilever, Wrigley, and more. 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.

Diversity & Inclusion

Karatzas & Partners strives for a company culture where integration, mutual support and respect coexist. Each person is treated as an individual by rejecting discrimination on grounds of sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnic origin, religion, or any element other than individual merit. The firm is the first and only Greek large law firm whose managing partner and majority of partners are women. As a testament to the above, the firm is the first and only Greek law firm that was awarded as Best Workplace 2024 and Best Workplace for Women 2024 by Great Place To Work® Hellas.

International Work

Karatzas & Partners has extensive experience in advising local and 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:

• Pure Health Holding PJSC (PureHealth), the leading integrated healthcare network in the United Arab Emirates, on its acquisition of a 60% stake in Hellenic Healthcare Group (HHG), from CVC Capital Partners VI and HHG’s CEO and founder, Mr. Dimitris Spyridis.
• Eurobank and Piraeus Bank in the financing of the development of one of the biggest PV-solar projects in Greece (with a total capacity of 550 MW).
• National Bank of Greece on the closing of Project Frontier II, a multi-asset securitization ofNPEswith a gross book value of c. €1 billion.
• Alpha Bankon all Greek law matters in relation to the sale and transfer of a 65% equity stake in Skyline S.A. to P&E Investments S.A., concerning a portfolio of 460 real estate assets of multiple types, to be managed by Alpha Real Estate Services S.A.
• National Bank of Greece S.A. and Eurobank S.A. as Lead Arrangers on the €750 million debt financing of Masdar in Terna Energy transaction. Piraeus on the financing of the development of 17 school units in Central Macedonia, Greece, through a public private partnership scheme, one of Greece’s largest PPP initiatives in the educational sector.
• GLS on its acquisition of a 20% stake in ACS Courier and Postal Services from Quest Holdings SA for €74 million.
• Metlen Energy & Metals S.A. in connection with its green bond offering of €750 million of 4% senior notes due 2029, an increase from the originally proposed €500 million.
• National Bank of Greece in a joint tender offer for the acquisition of the entire outstanding share capital of Epsilon Net S.A.
• Cadence Design Systems on all Greek law matters relating to the signing of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of BETA CAE Systems International AG, operating its primary R&D center in Thessaloniki, Greece for a purchase price of approximately US$1.24 billion.