Milbank LLP advised National Bank of Greece S.A. and Piraeus Bank S.A in connection with the provision of financing to Hellas Gold Single Member S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Eldorado Gold Corporation, for the development of the Skouries mining project located within the Halkidiki Peninsula of Northern Greece.
The €680 million financing is the largest such financing in Greece and will finance the continued expansion of the Skouries mining project. The project is expected to provide significant social benefits to the region, with thousands of new direct and indirect jobs and billions of revenue to the Greek economy in the form of taxes, royalties and social contributions over the life of the mine.
Apostolos Gkoutzinis, partner in Milbank’s European Leveraged Finance/Capital Markets group in London, said, “We are delighted to have been involved in this transaction and welcome the positive impact that this will have on the Greek mining sector and wider economy.”
John Dewar, partner in Milbank’s Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance practice in London, said, “This is a landmark investment – the largest mining financing in Greece/Europe this year and one of the largest global limited recourse mining financings in 2022.”
The London-based Milbank team was led by partners Apostolos Gkoutzinis (European Leveraged Finance/Capital Markets) and John Dewar (Global Projects, Energy & Infrastructure Finance Group) with special counsel Seyda Duman and associate Emily Whittaker (both Global Projects, Energy & Infrastructure Finance Group), associates Lefteris Dafermos and Alexandros Makris (both European Leveraged Finance/Capital Markets) and partner John Goldfinch and associates Robert Wyse Jackson and Eleanor Cripps (all Alternative Investment Group).
