A shipping law expert with over 16 years of experience in the sector, including more than eleven as an in-house lawyer with US-listed shipping companies, Theodora Mitropetrou has been Seanergy’s general counsel and corporate secretary since 2008. The Nasdaq-listed and Athens-based company is a major dry bulk shipping player in the booming Greek shipping industry, and Mitropetrou has overseen the day-to-day running of a total fleet of 31 vessels during the course of her tenure.

When discussing some of her main highlights during her time with the company, she recalls a number of projects particularly fondly: ‘I participated in Seanergy’s corporate restructuring transactions regarding the elimination of more than US$345m of liabilities between 2008 and 2014, through heading the handling and negotiating of all settlement and financial agreements for the Group. As well as this, I was a part of the company’s 2015 operations re-launch, through the purchase of its new fleet with the company growing from zero to over one million deadweight tonnage in nine months and to 1.7 million deadweight tonnage thereafter. I handled all S&P transactions, legal closings as well as negotiated all loan agreements, and total new investment was US$275m. Another highlight was handling all filings and legal matters relating to the company’s multiple equity raisings of US$25.5m during 2016’.

Going into the particulars of her job, she is clear that ‘the legal department of a US-listed international shipping company undertakes legal work drawn from very diverse areas. Our ships operate under different flag states in various international jurisdictions, and our finance lenders are also international institutions each with unique requirements. We also need to comply with US securities law to be in a position to maintain our listing and to participate in the capital markets’. As such, she is required to showcase her broad range of knowledge, experience and meticulous coordination regularly, and is proud of her achievements regarding the legal function as a whole. ‘I have built the legal department always focusing on the company’s needs as well as mitigating risks and complying with applicable laws and regulations’, she explains.