Bio

Simon Raftopoulos is the Local Corporate Practice Group Head in the Cayman Islands and a member of the Corporate Finance and Private Equity teams. He represents clients in a wide variety of corporate finance transactions, including private equity and fund finance, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, initial and secondary public offerings and private placements of equity and debt securities. Simon also represents clients on large private equity transactions and his team has a deep PE formation and transactional presence in Cayman. Prior to joining Appleby, he was an associate in the Banking and Financial Services Group of Mathesons in Dublin. Simon has consistently been ranked since 2012 and is highly rated globally across the leading legal directories. He is currently recognised by Who´s Who Legal 2021 as one of the world´s leading banking and M&A lawyers, a ´market leader´ in IFLR1000’s 2020 rankings as well as ranked as a 2020 ‘leading individual’ in Legal 500. Chambers Global reported that clients laud him for his skills and describe him as “commercial and practical [with] a good group of lawyers around him”. Past Chambers Global directories have described him as a “brilliant lawyer, with excellent and creative ideas for complex issues”. In 2019 he was ranked as a ‘leading individual’ and in 2018, he was a ´recommended´ lawyer in Legal 500 described as “very technically sound, a problem-solver” and “extremely knowledgeable on Cayman law” in Chambers Global. Also in 2018, Simon was recognised in the Merger & Acquisition chapter of Who’s Who Legal: M&A and Governance. He is quoted as earning his praise within the legal industry for his “precise and definitive” advice in Chambers Global 2016 and a “great banking lawyer who is extremely practical” in Chambers Global 2015. Legal 500 2015 reports that he is the “technically brilliant” global private equity head. Chambers Caribbean 2014 reported clients had this to say about Simon: “He provides really good service, and is very responsive and great when we need things done within a quick timeframe”. Simon participates regularly at conferences and seminars, and provides commentary to international and local media. He has been a contributing author to the Global Legal Insights Fund Finance publication since its inception. He also participated in the MandA.TV Leaderboard Interviews at the 2013 Cross Border M&A Advisor Symposium and spoke on the subject of ´Trends in Offshore M&A´. Simon also received the ´Finance Deal Maker of the year´ award in 2014. Simon holds the Securities Institute International Capital Markets Qualification. In the Cayman Islands, Simon has also undertaken pro bono work for over a decade and is a recipient of the Lee Friedman award for his service to the Family Crisis Centre and the community.