Team size: Five 

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?    

We are consistently using IT tools that promote collaboration and hybrid work within the team. The company operates mines in several different places, so a hybrid work environment is very important to us. 

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

Hellas Gold is the Greek subsidiary of Eldorado Gold, a Canadian gold mining company listed in the stock exchange of Toronto and New York. Hellas Gold owns the Kassandra Mines and is implementing one of the largest foreign investments in Greece. Last year, we concluded a €680mn project financing agreement (which includes funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility), for the development of Skouries mine (gold/copper mine). The Skouries mine is a world class, €1.5bn high grade gold and copper mine under construction in northern Greece, which when in operation will be the largest European copper mine and one of the 10 greatest in the world (by life of mine standards). Skouries development is also financed by EBRD and is the first financing of a mine in Greece by EBRD.  

Traditionally, project financing (PF) in Greece has been used for infrastructure and energy production projects which are very different industries to mining; the Skouries PF agreement is the first in Greece that concerns a project exposed in the international competition as commodities. Additionally, precious metal mining industry in Greece is still underdeveloped and its commercial particularities virtually unknown to the Greek lenders. During our negotiations for such a complex agreement we were very pleasantly surprised by the positive attitude of the lenders and their willingness to learn about our industry, understand our needs and arrive at common ground. 

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?     

Working with law firms that share our values is extremely important to us. Diversity, equity and inclusion are core values, and we regard them as part of sustainability. Obviously, each time the team that will be working with us is very important, but when choosing law firms, we investigate their social and environmental footprint and whether they share our values, and only work with firms that are compatible with us. 

Sustainability, DE&I is an area of great development in the legal market in Greece and I am happy to report that it is embracing sustainability by leaps and bounds.