The purpose of the conciliation procedure, provided by Articles 99 to 106 of Law 3588/2007 (Government Gazette Bulletin A 153), is to rescue enterprises encountering financial difficulties at a pre-bankruptcy stage. An agreement between the debtor and the majority of the creditors is required to be concluded before the suspension of payments of the debtor. This agreement is subject to ratification by the court.
The Greek market is a crowded one, with reputedly about 20,000 lawyers in Athens alone. Competition, added to the mixing of traditional structures for firms and allocation of fees with new corporate firm cultures, create spin-offs and a variety of styles....
[more]
The Greek market is a crowded one, with reputedly about 20,000 lawyers in Athens alone. Competition, added to the mixing of traditional structures for firms and allocation of fees with new corporate firm cultures, create spin-offs and a variety of styles.
There is no clear recipe for success, as structures vary widely in the top five firms alone.
The big four established firms are Bernitsas, Karatzas, TJ Koutalidis and KGDI, with newly rebranded PotamitisVekris nipping at their collective heels. A notable development in capital markets is the establishment of Your Legal Partners, a spin off from KLC, while young firm Kelemenis & Co, formed in 2003, is beginning to gain traction in the market.
Partners have noted a change in activity due to the global financial crisis. "We are not getting the big deals we used to get and the clients are negotiating more," says one partner. Another partner notes that "many brilliant ideas and structures have been suspended".
There was only one IPO in the past year, but one partner notes that "firms started dropping fees in capital markets even before the credit crunch because of fierce competition, especially in tiers three and four". Firms have been active in the restructuring, securitisation and covered bonds sectors, although structured finance work "is no longer in fashion," says one peer.
The most high-profile deals have been the OTE share sale to Deutsche Telekom and the contentious privatisation of Olympic Airlines. Firms also received a list of mandates in renewable energy financing, especially regarding wind parks and photovoltaic plants, in road construction projects, and other major construction projects such as the Trans-Balkan oil pipeline.
"A good technician gets more work in times like this and needs to work harder," says one partner. Another top firm says: "There has been no slow down for us, just the opposite." "Deals are less," says another peer, "but clients are looking more to good law firms".
The opening of the public-private partnership (PPP) sector has been eagerly anticipated, although its potential has not yet been fully realised.
[Read about law firms' performance in this practice area]
[hide]