Our firm advised funds advised by affiliates of Centerbridge Partners, LLP and Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited (the Consortium) in relation to the sale of a portfolio of c. 12,800 secured non-performing Small Business Lending and Small & Medium Enterprises loans (c. 8,300 properties distributed across Greece) with total outstanding principal amount of c. €0.9 billion with NBG.
We assisted the Consortium from the very preparatory stages of Project Symbol and submission of binding offers, to the negotiation and execution of the sale and purchase agreement, on to the drafting and negotiation of all ancillary operational agreements. The transaction followed the market trend for this type of secured portfolios, applying the Greek securitisation law 3156/2003 as a sale and transfer tool. This is the first-ever Greek deal implementing the securitisation features under a Greek law governed receivables’ sale and purchase agreement.
The transaction team was led by partner Christina Papanikolopoulou and senior associate Paris Tzoumas. Partner Kely Pesketzi, of counsel Kitty Fragalexi as well as senior associate Mary Nigritinou and associates Athina Palli, Niki Ignatidi and Alexis Kontogiannis provided additional support.