M&P Bernitsas is almost universally respected, with market opinion effusive about its abilities across the board, especially within finance."Bernitsas are the top firm in banking," says one partner, and further explains, "They are a serious firm, have a good team and are by far the best....
[more]
M&P Bernitsas is almost universally respected, with market opinion effusive about its abilities across the board, especially within finance.
"Bernitsas are the top firm in banking," says one partner, and further explains, "They are a serious firm, have a good team and are by far the best. This is mainly for their perception of complicated issues. They are very innovative too."
The banking team was chalking up some firsts this year, demonstrating its lofty standing in the market when acting on a revolving credit bond loan that was the first of its size to take place under Greek law. Athanasia Tsene and Dionysis Flambouras, both leading lawyers, led the way on this, advising an exhausting list of big-name clients. The breakdown of the deal was EFG Eurobank Ergasias, Alpha Bank, HSBC Bank, TT Hellenic Postbank, Barclays Bank, Emporiki Bank of Greece, Intesa Sanpaolo and Morgan Stanley as bookrunners and subscribers, the National Bank of Greece, Bank of Cyprus Public Company, BNP Paribas, Citibank International and Deutsche Bank Luxembourg as mandated lead arrangers and subscribers, Banc of America Securities as mandated lead arrangers, Bank of America as subscriber and Attica Bank and Marfin Egnatia Bank as lead arrangers and subscribers, all of whom Bernitsas advised. This complex and sizeable deal closed out in February 2011 for a value of around €900 million.
The firm also got heavily involved in the markets, and in one deal helped alleviate the effects of the crisis on the National Bank of Greece. Leading lawyer Nikos Papachristopoulos led on a deal for a large number of clients, including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank (London), and Hellenic Post Bank. As part of the capital strengthening plan for the bank, the deal entailed a €697 million rights issue followed by a €1.2 billion convertible notes issue. This mammoth undertaking completed successfully in October 2010.
The firm also acted on some large project finance mandates especially in motorway construction. Panayotis Bernitsas, Yannis Kourniotis and Yannis Seiradakis advised the sponsors in regard to all aspects of the restructuring of the Elefsina-Corinthos-Patra portion of the PATHE motorway, including some especially in-depth due diligence work. This restructuring is still ongoing to date, and has a value of some €2.4 billion.
Bernitsas also boasts a leading M&A practice, and acted on the other side of the belatedly cancelled merger between Alpha Bank and the National Bank of Greece, another deal with a value north of a billion Euros.
[hide]