Latham & Watkins Advises Athens International Airport on Its Initial Public Offering

Latham & Watkins has advised Athens International Airport S.A. — the operator of the largest airport in Greece with more than 28 million passengers in 2023 — on the listing of its shares on the regulated market of the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX).

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 Wednesday, February 7, 2024, with a market cap equal to €2.46 billion. The shares were offered by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund S.A., which offered its entire stake in the Company, representing 30% of the Company’s total issued share capital; the offering comprised an offering to international institutional investors and a public offering to retail and institutional investors in Greece. The proceeds from the listing amounted to €784.7 million.

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, National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank, Ambrosia Capital, Euroxx, and Pantelakis Securities as Co-Lead Managers in the Institutional Offering. 

Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece, and Piraeus Bank acted as Coordinators and Ambrosia Capital, and Euroxx and Pantelakis Securities as Lead Underwriters in connection with the Greek Public Offering. Eurobank acted as Listing Advisor. Rothschild acted as financial advisor.

The Latham team was led by partners Ryan Benedict and Jeff Lawlis with counsel Giorgio Ignazzi, and associates Irene Pistotnik and Elina Stavropoulou. Advice was also provided on tax matters by partner Jocelyn F. Noll with associate Fangyuan (Farrah) Yan; and on certain corporate governance matters by associate Steffen Augschill.