GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Stefanos Charaktiniotis, Danai Falconaki, Stathis Orfanoudakis and Nadia Axioti, Zepos & Yannopoulos
sectors represents a significant development that M&A practitioners must navigate when structuring transactions that involve foreign investors originating from third countries or EU investors with third-country connections. 1.3 Key Industries Technology and AI opportunities which have continu - ally been on the radar of strategic M&A players for the past years witnessed a significant growth during 2025. Private equity and venture capital funds, both local and foreign, have been particularly active in this sector, while more traditional companies are also on the lookout for opportunities to buy or invest in tech - nology. Always present in the Greek M&A market, the energy sector has traditionally witnessed notable M&A activ - ity, including during the past 12 months. Transactions targeting renewable energy sources, especially wind and solar farms, are now at the top of the list of many deal makers who are prioritising their ESG objectives and underpinning their commitment to the transition to a green era. Investments in hospitality and leisure transactions showed an upturn in deal flow pace in 2025, driven by Greece’s strong tourism recovery and sustained investor appetite for prime hospitality assets. Hotels, resorts and tourism infrastructure projects have been particularly attractive targets, with investors drawn to opportunities for upgrading properties to meet evolv - ing traveller expectations. Finally, the defence and defence technology sectors are also attracting increasing attention from inves - tors in Greece as geopolitical developments drive demand for advanced security solutions. Additionally, the insurance and healthcare industries are experienc - ing heightened M&A interest, mostly propelled by the growing need for modernised healthcare solutions.
ment appetite of the parties involved as well as the particularities of each specific investment opportunity. Besides the “cherry-picking” transfer of assets, a buy - er may opt also for a business transfer, ie, the acqui - sition of a stand-alone economic unit or the seller’s business as a whole. The practical consequences are: (a) the different tax treatment; (b) application of the provisions of Presidential Decree 178/2002, which has transposed EU Directive 98/50/EC (known as Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment), or TUPE), by virtue of which all personnel associated with the business or business unit (as the case may be) are entitled to continue their employment with the acquirer under the same terms; and (c) application of the mandatory provisions of Article 479 of the Greek Civil Code, which provide for liability of the acquirer jointly with the seller in respect of debts of the trans - ferred business, but up to the amount of the value of the said business. Furthermore, pursuant to Law 4601/2019 on corpo - rate transformations, the acquisition of a company may be concluded as a merger, demerger or spin-off which benefits from the universal succession of the business undergoing corporate transformation by the transferee by operation of law. 2.2 Primary Regulators In terms of regulatory bodies, in principle, business combinations meeting the jurisdictional thresholds prescribed by Law 3959/2011 on protection of free competition, as amended by Law 5255/2025, must be notified to the Hellenic Competition Commis - sion (HCC), and the parties involved must abstain from consummating the transaction until it has been cleared by the HCC. Furthermore, if a transaction meets the criteria of new Law 5202/2025 on the national foreign direct invest - ments screening regime, it must be notified prior to its completion to the Interministerial Committee for the Screening of Foreign Direct Investments on the grounds of national security or public order (FDISIC), as supported by a specific division, Directorate B1 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2. Overview of Regulatory Field 2.1 Acquiring a Company
Greek M&A transactions may be structured as either share deals or asset deals depending on the invest -
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