Koutalidis Law Firm is delighted to announce that it has acted as Greek Legal Counsel, alongside Milbank as International Counsel, to
(a) J.P. Morgan SE, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, Morgan Stanley Europe SE and UBS Europe SE in their capacity as Joint Global Coordinators &
(b) BofA Securities Europe SA, AXIA Ventures Group Limited and Euroxx Securities S.A. in their capacity as Managers of the International Offering
(c) Euroxx Securities S.A. as Advisor and Lead Underwriter and NBG Securities S.A. as Lead Underwriter of the Greek Public Offering and
(d) J.P. Morgan as Disposal Advisor to the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (the HFSF) in relation to the Offering (the Offering) by the HFSF of common shares, representing a participation stake of 22% in National Bank of Greece S.A. (the NBG)), which Offering was addressed:
(i) in Greece, to retail and qualified investors in the context of a public offering and
(ii) outside Greece, pursuant to private placements to (a) persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in the United States of America or pursuant to another exemption from registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, and (b) institutional investors outside the United States.
The Offering, which was the first fully marketed offering completed by the HFSF under its Divestment Policy, attracted very strong investor demand as it was oversubscribed by more than eight times.
As the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, commented on the completion transaction: “The successful completion of the offering of 22% of National Bank’s share capital to international and Greek investors, which was oversubscribed, is a very positive development for National Bank and the banking system of the country. It follows other recent positive developments in the sector and the successive upgrade of the country’s credit rating in the last few months. The transaction was the most successful in the EU during the last three years in terms of demand and of minimising the discount on the offer price. It is a source of optimism for our banking system and the Greek economy”.
Our Team was led by our Managing Partner, Nikos Koritsas, and our Head of Banking and Finance practice, Nikos Salakas. Dr. George Naskaris, Head of our Tax practice advised, on the Greek Tax aspects of the Offering.
