Elias Neocleous

Practice Areas

• Corporate and Commercial

• Tax Law – Tax Planning & Advanced Business Structuring

Publications

Private client law in Cyprus: overview

International Trust Precedents

COUNTRY UPDATE-Cyprus: Securities & Banking

TAXATION IN M&A

Doing business in: Cyprus

Restructuring and insolvency in Cyprus: overview

Languages Spoken

English, Greek, Spanish.

Experience

Elias has long and deep experience in providing international businesses and organisations with advice at the highest level on matters including mergers and acquisitions, cross-border investment, business structuring, corporate governance and tax and international tax planning. He is widely recognised as a leading adviser to private clients on wealth management issues including family and charity trusts, family foundations, tax law, domicile, and asset management.

Elias is frequently invited to speak on Cyprus law at international events and has numerous publications on Cyprus corporate and tax law to his credit. He has been selected by leading legal publishers to write the Cyprus chapter of reference works including Guide to European Company Laws, Doing Business in Europe, and European Cross- Border Estate Planning (Sweet & Maxwell), Joint Ventures in Europe, International Tax and Investment Service, and Planning and Administration of Offshore and Onshore Trusts (Tottel Publishing).

Industry Sector Expertise

Elias has led the teams of lawyers dealing with the largest, most notable and most innovative transactions taking place in or through Cyprus in recent years, including:

The first ever leveraged buyout in Cyprus and the first commercial paper programme for a credit institution in Cyprus

Multi-billion investments by international development banks in projects in Europe, Asia and Africa

Advising household-name entities on large strategic investments and acquisitions using corporate structures

Exits for founder investors via initial public offerings, private placements and other routes

Acquisitions and disposals of billion-plus investments in real estate and other assets by high net worth individuals.

Career

Graduated in law from the University of Oxford in 1991

Called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1992

Admitted to the Cyprus Bar in 1993

A partner in our legacy firm since 1995 and head of the corporate and commercial department

Appointed by the Cyprus government to the board of directors of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency

Professional Memberships

Honorary Consul of Portugal

Vice President/Economy of the Limassol Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Founder member of the Franchise Association of Greece

Member of the International Bar Association

Member of the International Tax Planning Association

Honorary member of the Association of Fellows of Legal Scholars of the Center for International Legal Studies

Member of the Association Européenne D’Études Juridiques et Fiscales

Academician of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law

Founder Member of STEP Cyprus