Clifford Chance and Bernitsas have advised the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund on its EUR 690 million sale of a 10% stake in the National Bank of Greece with J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS as the joint global coordinators. Milbank reportedly advised the underwriters.
According to Clifford Chance, "the sale was structured as a fully marketed secondary equity capital markets offering and comprised both Greek and international institutional offering tranches as well as a Greek public offering. The offering, which closed on October 7, 2024, saw the HFSF sell 91,471,515 shares in NBG through a book-building process and retail offering in Greece and was more than 10 times oversubscribed, raising gross proceeds of approximately EUR 690 million."
Earlier this year Bernitsas advised Thrivest Holding on an agreement with the HFSF to create the fifth banking pillar in Greece (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on July 25, 2024).
The Bernitsas team included Partners Maria Nefeli Bernitsa, Fotodotis Malamas, and Dimitris Roussis, Counsel Anastasia Mallerou, Senior Associate Mara Lissari, and Trainee Lawyer Sotiris Kolelis.
The Clifford Chance team included lawyers in London, Frankfurt, and Brussels.
Editor's Note: After this article was published, Koutalidis announced that it advised joint global coordinators J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, Morgan Stanley Europe, and UBS Europe, joint bookrunners Bank of America Securities Europe, BNP Paribas, Citi Global Markets Europe, and Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, co-lead managers AXIA Ventures Group Limited and Euroxx Securities, as well as Euroxx Securities in its capacity as advisor and lead underwriter and NBG Securities as lead underwriter. The Koutalidis team included Managing Partner Nikos Koritsas, Partner George Naskaris, Senior Associate Georgia Koutsoukou, and Associates Kelly Hatzigaki and Panagiota Thivaiou.
