White & Case Advises Alpha Bank on Sale of Cepal Holdings to Davidson Kempner and Entry by Alpha Bank into Long Term NPL Servicing Contract with Cepal

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised systemic Greek bank Alpha Bank on international legal matters regarding its entry into definitive transaction documentation with certain entities managed and advised by Davidson Kempner for the sale by Alpha Bank of 80 percent of its loan servicing subsidiary Cepal Holdings and the entry by Alpha Bank into a long term servicing arrangement for its €10.8 billion NPE portfolio (codenamed Project Galaxy).

"This transaction is a cornerstone of Alpha Bank's strategic plan to off-board close to €11 billion of legacy non-performing loans and is Europe's second-largest bank balance sheet re-calibration exercise," said White & Case partner Debashis Dey, who led the Firm's deal team. "Our team has been involved in all three transformational deals of this type in Greece, which require seamless delivery of integrated pan-European financial services M&A, securitisation and regulatory expertise."

White & Case partner Hyder Jumabhoy, who led M&A aspects of the deal, said: "Southern Europe is often the testing ground for transaction structures, which are then implemented across Europe. Given the expected surge in the scale of, and rapid timeline for, souring of debt across Europe in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing increasingly high demand for deal structuring and legal expertise in this area."

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was led by partners Debashis Dey (London and Dubai) and Hyder Jumabhoy (London) with support from partners Marcus Booth (London and Dubai) and Laura Hoyland (London), counsel Claudio Medeossi (Dubai), and associates Adam Gao, Mohamed Hasan, Greg Pospodinis, Fraser Galloway, Adnan Bekdur, Salewudin Ibrahim, Ghislaino Kamdo and Ola Sanni (all Dubai), ) Alexander Miles-Dinham (London), Aleksandra Stadnik (Abu Dhabi) and Alexander Kreibich (Frankfurt).

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