Home› Business Law› M&A and Corporate Transactions
Business Law · Transactional

Sub-Practice M&A and Corporate
Transactions.

Share and asset acquisitions, joint ventures and due diligence — informed by genuine transactional experience, not textbook theory. From term sheet to closing, we structure deals the way an in-house lawyer thinks about risk.

How We Work Discuss a Transaction
Share & AssetDeal Structures
FullDue Diligence
DualGR & UK Qualified
3Languages
Dual-qualified for cross-border deals
Our Managing Partner is dual-qualified in England & Wales and Greece, so English-law questions are advised on directly in-house. Court appearances remain before the Greek courts and international arbitral tribunals; English proceedings are conducted through instructed English correspondent counsel.
GC-level commercial judgment
As general counsel to a Fortune 50 technology group, Dionysios Pantazis handles M&A among other matters across eight countries — deal instinct built from the buyer's chair, not just outside counsel.
Rigorous due diligence discipline
Experience on complex title and asset diligence — including a mining concession acquisition and an island acquisition with contested cadastral history — shapes how we scope every diligence exercise.
Publications and international speaking
The firm's lawyers contribute to leading international legal publications and are regularly invited to speak at international symposia.
Planning a transaction?
Tell us about the deal — buy-side, sell-side, or structuring a joint venture. We'll scope the work and the timeline.
Request Consultation
Overview Scope of Service Process Why Us FAQs

M&A and Corporate Transactions

Greek M&A rewards buyers who know
where the real risk is hiding.

Every transaction begins with a structural choice that shapes everything downstream: a share deal or an asset deal. The two carry materially different tax treatment, different exposure to the target's historic liabilities, and different employment-law consequences under the Greek transfer-of-undertakings rules. Getting this choice wrong at the term sheet stage is expensive to unwind later — it needs to be made deliberately, with the client's actual risk appetite in view, not defaulted to whichever structure the other side proposes first. An M&A lawyer in Greece uses diligence findings as leverage, converting risk into price or into an indemnity.

Deal size and sector also determine whether the Hellenic Competition Commission needs to be notified before closing, and whether the transaction touches a sector subject to foreign investment or national security screening. Missing a mandatory HCC filing does not just create regulatory risk — it can render the transaction void. We build merger control analysis into deal timetables from day one, not as an afterthought once signing is imminent.

"The deals that go wrong in Greece rarely go wrong at signing. They go wrong six months later, when a due diligence gap that everyone assumed was immaterial turns out not to be." Where clearance is required, an M&A lawyer in Greece will map the filing obligations early, since timing drives the whole deal calendar.

Legal due diligence on Greek targets — particularly SMEs and family-owned businesses — routinely surfaces informal governance practices, incomplete corporate minute books, and unresolved real estate title issues that only become apparent once counsel actually pulls the land registry and cadastral records. We run diligence the way an in-house buyer would want it run: focused on what actually affects valuation and closing risk, not a document-count exercise for the file. Bring us the target and we will tell you what diligence should cover.

Structuring decision
Share deal vs asset deal
Tax treatment, liability inheritance and employee transfer consequences differ sharply between the two structures. We advise on the choice before we advise on the documents.
Regulatory clearance
HCC merger control
Turnover-based notification thresholds under Greek and EU merger control rules are assessed at the outset, so clearance timing is built into the deal schedule, not discovered late.
What diligence actually finds
Due diligence realities in Greece
Informal shareholder arrangements, gaps in corporate records, and unresolved title on real estate assets are common in Greek SME targets — and worth pricing into the deal, not discovering post-closing.
Cross-border capability
Cross-border deals
Dual qualification in Greece and England & Wales means transactions with foreign parents, English-law SPAs or multi-jurisdiction counterparties are handled directly, without a second firm.

Scope of Service

From first term sheet
to post-closing integration.

Share & Asset Acquisitions
Buy-side and sell-side representation on share purchases and asset purchases — structuring advice, deal documentation and negotiation from letter of intent through to closing.
Buy-SideSell-SideStructuring
Core service →
01
Legal Due Diligence
Corporate, commercial, employment, real estate and regulatory due diligence on target companies — scoped to what actually affects valuation and closing risk, reported in plain commercial language.
CorporateReal EstateEmployment
Core service →
02
SPA & Transaction Documentation
Drafting and negotiation of share purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements, disclosure letters, warranty and indemnity packages, and ancillary transaction documents.
SPAWarrantiesDisclosure
Core service →
03
Joint Ventures & Shareholder Agreements
Structuring and documenting joint ventures, shareholder agreements and complex shareholder structures — governance rights, exit mechanics, deadlock resolution and funding provisions.
JVsGovernanceExit Rights
Core service →
04
Corporate Restructuring & Reorganisation
Group reorganisations, mergers, demergers, share capital restructuring and post-acquisition integration of corporate structures under Greek company law.
MergersDemergersGroup Structuring
Core service →
05
Cross-Border Deals & Regulatory Clearance
HCC merger control filings, foreign investment screening, and coordination of multi-jurisdiction transactions involving English law or foreign counterparties — under a single instruction.
HCCForeign InvestmentMulti-Jurisdiction
Core service →
06

How We Work

A deal process built around closing risk.

STEP 01
Due Diligence & Deal Structuring
We scope and run legal due diligence on the target, advise on share deal versus asset deal structure, and flag HCC and foreign investment screening requirements early.
STEP 02
Negotiation & Documentation
Drafting and negotiating the SPA, disclosure letter, warranty and indemnity package, and any ancillary agreements — shareholder agreements, transitional services, escrow arrangements.
STEP 03
Signing, Conditions & Regulatory Clearance
Managing signing, satisfying conditions precedent, and coordinating any HCC merger control filing or foreign investment clearance required before closing can occur.
STEP 04
Closing & Post-Merger Integration
Executing closing mechanics, corporate filings and registrations, and advising on the legal aspects of post-merger integration — from governance structures to employment harmonisation.

Why Pantazis & Associates

Transactional judgment built
from the buyer's side of the table.

In-House · Fortune 50
Fortune 50 GC experience
Managing Partner Dionysios Pantazis has served for eleven years as General Counsel to a Fortune 50 technology group, with responsibility across seven business lines and eight countries.
Dual Qualification · International
England & Wales + Greece — cross-border deals covered
Transactions with foreign parent companies, English-law-governed SPAs, or counterparties represented by London counsel are handled directly, without a referral to a second firm on either side of the deal.
Complex Transactions · Real Assets
Mining and island acquisitions — structured and closed
We advised on the corporate structuring and transactional documentation for a seventeen-mine gold acquisition in Greece and a private island acquisition in the Ionian Sea — deals demanding rigorous title diligence, regulatory permitting review and complex shareholder structures.
Data Protection
Data protection diligence for tech and data-driven deals
We assess data protection liabilities as a genuine diligence workstream — increasingly material in deals involving customer databases, SaaS platforms or data-processing arrangements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about M&A transactions.

Share deal or asset deal — which is better?+

Neither is inherently better — it depends on the client's priorities. A share deal transfers the target company as a whole, including its historic liabilities, but is often simpler where existing licences, contracts or employment relationships need to continue uninterrupted. An asset deal lets the buyer select specific assets and generally leave unwanted liabilities behind, but can trigger consent requirements, transfer taxes, and employment law consequences under the Greek transfer-of-undertakings rules that need to be planned for. We advise on the structure based on the target's specific liability profile, the tax position, and what the buyer actually wants to acquire.

Do I need HCC (Hellenic Competition Commission) clearance for my transaction?+

It depends on the combined turnover of the parties involved and the sector concerned. Greek merger control rules set turnover-based notification thresholds, and certain transactions may also require notification under the EU Merger Regulation if the deal has an EU dimension. Some sectors also carry separate foreign investment or national security screening requirements regardless of turnover. We run this analysis at the outset of every transaction so that clearance timing — which can affect the closing timetable materially — is built into the deal schedule from the start, not discovered days before signing.

What does legal due diligence typically uncover in a Greek target company?+

In our experience, particularly with SME and family-owned targets, diligence commonly surfaces informal governance practices that were never properly documented in corporate minute books, gaps or inconsistencies in the share register, and — where the target holds real estate — unresolved title issues that only emerge once we actually pull land registry and cadastral records rather than relying on the seller's representations. None of these are necessarily deal-breakers, but they need to be identified, quantified and either remedied pre-closing or properly priced into the transaction through warranties, indemnities or purchase price adjustment.

Can the firm run a cross-border deal with counterparties or counsel in other jurisdictions?+

Yes. Our dual qualification in Greece and England & Wales means we can work directly with English-law-governed transaction documents, coordinate with counsel or counterparties in other jurisdictions, and handle the Greek-law elements of a cross-border transaction without needing to bring in a second firm for the international dimension. This is a regular feature of our transactional practice, not an exception.

How long does a typical M&A transaction take in Greece?+

A straightforward share deal for a privately-held SME target, with no regulatory clearance required, can move from signed term sheet to closing in as little as 6 to 10 weeks, assuming due diligence does not surface significant issues. Transactions requiring HCC merger control clearance, involving real estate with title complications, or structured as cross-border deals with multiple counsel involved typically take longer — often 3 to 6 months. We give a realistic timeline once we understand the target and the deal structure, rather than a generic estimate.

Planning a transaction?
Let's talk about the deal.

A confidential conversation about the transaction, the target, and the right structure.

Get in Touch +30 210 36 33 694