Last week, our partner Yannis Loizos joined Datasite‘s Dealmakers Dialogues in Athens — a focused gathering of M&A practitioners from across the Greek market.

Yannis was on a panel alongside Dimitris Tsatsanis (OTE Group), Peggy Diakoumi (Theon International), and Michael Kamparakis (Deloitte), moderated by Angelos Kansiz from Datasite. The discussion covered the current state of M&A in Greece, deal structures, execution challenges, and the practical role of AI in dealmaking.

Among the points Yannis raised: deal structures are becoming more sophisticated — earn-outs, W&I insurance, and phased exits are no longer reserved for large-cap transactions and are appearing with increasing frequency in mid-market deals, often as a way to bridge valuation gaps without abandoning deals that make commercial sense.

On execution, the conversation turned to the interim period between signing and closing as the stage where deals most commonly lose momentum — with regulatory approvals (merger control, FDI screening, sectoral regulators) being the main culprits. With Greece’s FDI screening framework now fully operational, early mapping of the critical path is more important than ever.