Zepos & Yannopoulos, working with Milbank, advised the joint global coordinators, managers, and underwriters on Athens International Airport's IPO on the regulated market of the Athens Exchange. PotamitisVekris, working with Latham & Watkins, advised AIA. White & Case, Your Legal Partners, and Dracopoulos & Vassalakis advised the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund on selling its 30% stake in AIA. Koutalidis advised AviAlliance on the acquisition of a controlling stake of just over 50% in the Athens International Airport.
The shares were offered by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, which offered its entire stake in the AIA, representing 30% of its total issued share capital. The IPO included an offering to international institutional investors and a public offering to retail and institutional investors in Greece. The proceeds from the listing amounted to EUR 784.7 million.
According to Koutalidis, AviAlliance, "which already held just over 40% in AIA prior to the transaction, entered into a cornerstone agreement with HRADF for the acquisition of an additional 10% stake in AIA."
BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley acted as joint global coordinators, with Deutsche Bank as senior joint bookrunner; Barclays, BNP Paribas, and HSBC as joint bookrunners; and Alpha Bank, Eurobank, the National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank, Ambrosia Capital, Euroxx, and Pantelakis Securities as co-lead managers in the institutional offering.
Alpha Bank, Eurobank, the National Bank of Greece, and Piraeus Bank acted as coordinators while Ambrosia Capital, Euroxx, and Pantelakis Securities acted as lead underwriters in connection with the Greek public offering. Eurobank acted as listing advisor.
The Athens International Airport is the operator of the largest airport in Greece, with more than 28 million passengers in 2023. According to Latham & Watkins, "the landmark transaction represents the first major listing in Europe in 2024 and the biggest initial public offering in Greece in over 15 years." Trading began on February 7, 2024, with a market cap equal to EUR 2.46 billion.
AviAlliance GmbH is a member of PSP Investments. AviAlliance describes itself as one of the world's leading private industrial airport investors and managers. It is headquartered in Duesseldorf, Germany, and was founded in 1997 as Hochtief AirPort, a subsidiary of the international construction service provider Hochtief.
The Zepos & Yannopoulos team was led by Partner Christina Papanikolopoulou and included Partner Elena Papachristou, Senior Associate Efthymis Naoumis, and Associates Alexis Kontogiannis and Katerina Chalka.
The PotamitisVekris team included Managing Partner George Bersis, Partner Vassilis Stergiou, Senior Associate Elena Theocharakou, and Associate Maria Glynou.
The Dracopoulos & Vassalakis team was led by Partner Yiannis Palassakis and included Partner Georgia Afrati, Senior Associate Christina Messini, and Associate Evgenia Sardeli.
The Koutalidis team was led by Partners Nikos Koritsas and Yiannis Loizos and included Partner Yiannis Kantas, Senior Associate Georgia Koutsoukou, and Associate Maria Petropoulou.