Elias Neocleous

Elias has long and deep experience in providing international businesses and organisations with advice at the highest level on matters including mergers and acquisitions, cross-border investment, business structuring, corporate governance and tax and international tax planning. He is widely recognised as a leading adviser to private clients on wealth management issues including family and charity trusts, family foundations, tax law, domicile, and asset management.

Legal 500 quotes reports from clients describing Elias as a ‘consummate professional’ who is ‘at the top of his game’. He is frequently invited to speak on Cyprus law at international events and has numerous publications on Cyprus corporate and tax law to his credit. Elias has also been selected by leading legal publishers to write the Cyprus chapter of reference works including Guide to European Company Laws, Doing Business in Europe, and European Cross- Border Estate Planning (Sweet & Maxwell), Joint Ventures in Europe, International Tax and Investment Service, and Planning and Administration of Offshore and Onshore Trusts (Tottel Publishing).

• Elias has led the teams of lawyers dealing with the largest, most notable and most innovative transactions taking place in or through Cyprus in recent years, including:  The first ever leveraged buyout in Cyprus and the first commercial paper programme for a credit institution in Cyprus Multi-billion investments by international development banks in projects in Europe, Asia and Africa Advising household-name entities on large strategic investments and acquisitions using corporate structures Exits for founder investors via initial public offerings, private placements and other routes Acquisitions and disposals of billion-plus investments in real estate and other assets by high net worth individuals.

• Asset finance
• Banking
• Capital markets: Derivatives
• Capital markets: Equity
• Competition
• Financial restructuring
• Hedge funds
• Investment funds
• M&A
• Private equity
• Private equity funds
• Real estate funds
• Restructuring and insolvency

• Accounting
• Banking
• Energy
• Financial services
• Gaming
• Government and public policy
• Insurance
• Investment management
• Media
• Real estate
• Shipping
• Technology and telecommunications

• Advocate,University of Oxford, 1991
• Barrister at Law, Inner Temple, 1992

• Vice President/Economy of the Limassol Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Founder member of the Franchise Association of Greece
• Member of the International Bar Association
• Member of the International Tax Planning Association
• Honorary member of the Association of Fellows of Legal Scholars of the Center for International Legal Studies
• Member of the Association Européenne D’Études Juridiques et Fiscales
• Academician of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law
• Founder Member of STEP Cyprus
• Served as Honorary Consul of Portugal from December 2012 to August 2024

• Cyprus Bar Association, 1993