consensual solutions rather than coercive actions. This is the biggest initial public offering in Greece for over 18 years, how is this set to benefit Greece as well as Athens International Airport, what are the long-term results which came from this project for the client? Indeed, AIA’s IPO was the first significant IPO in Europe for 2024 and the biggest IPO in Greece in almost two decades. The proceeds amounted to approximately €785mn, implying a market capitalisation at listing of €2.46bn. It was oversubscribed approximately 12 times with strong demand exceeding €8bn from local and international investors and with over 20,000 individual applications received for the Greek public offering leg of the combined offering. This extremely successful IPO marks a historic moment in Greece’s economic Linklaters and Koutalidis acted as legal advisors to Avialliance. Working with leading practitioners from top-tier Greek and international law firms around the clock for many months was an unprecedented experience for our team and a valuable lesson on coordination and collaboration in tackling complex legal issues posed by the unique status of AIA. The whole process required us to follow a strict timeline with many actions on the critical path. Under the inspired guidance of the project managers of HRADF, the involvement of these professionals ensured the smooth and seamless completion of the individual milestones to the benefit of all parties involved. Above all, however, this IPO reaffirmed that there are some key principles that must be followed and applied in this type of multi-person transaction. These are the commitment to the client’s needs, the willingness to be agile and accept legal improvisation when approaching complex or unprecedented issues (such as the conditionality of the special corporate governance legislative provisions on the successful outcome of the IPO and the listing) and the need to always look for a balanced approach and to prefer obligations pursuant to the Prospectus Regulation and other pertinent legislation. Due to the size and importance of this project there were various law firms involved, when working with other law firms and teams what is the key to ensuring a smooth working environment and how does working with various law firms strengthen the team, building a strong lineup of lawyers for the client? We were really fortunate to work with a dream team of legal advisors. White & Case and Your Legal Partners also acted as advisors to HRADF. Latham & Watkins and PotamitisVekris were the legal advisors of AIA, Milbank and Zepos & Yannopoulos acted as legal advisors to the Managers and the Underwriters, 38 LAWYER MONTHLY APRIL 2024
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