Bio

George Stephanakis is Co‑Head of the Capital Markets Practice for EMEA. His practice focuses on capital market transactions and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Stephanakis’ recent work includes capital market transactions in connection with leveraged buyouts, initial public offerings and secondary equity offerings. He regularly represents issuers and underwriters in high-yield financings, and recently worked on offerings for AngloGold Ashanti, ASDA, AXA, CABB, CGG, CMA CGM, EdF, EG Group, Euronav, France Telecom, Goldstory, Hurtigruten, Lagardere, LeasePlan, Neiman Marcus, PSA Peugeot, RELX, Sappi, Wagamama and Warner Chilcot. Mr. Stephanakis also led the Cravath team that worked on the out‑of‑court debt for equity exchange of Akerys S.A., a French real estate developer, the first such exchange to have been completed in the European high‑yield market. In mergers and acquisitions and other corporate matters, Mr. Stephanakis has represented Europcar in its acquisition of Vanguard’s European business and the establishment of a strategic alliance between Europcar and Vanguard; the independent directors of KKR Guernsey in the combination of KKR Guernsey with KKR and the subsequent listing of KKR on the NYSE; Exalead, a French software company, in its sale to Dassault Systèmes; GDF SUEZ (now ENGIE) in the sale of a 30% interest in its exploration and production business and a 10% stake in the Atlantic LNG liquefaction plant in Trinidad and Tobago to China Investment Corporation for a total consideration of $4 billion; PSA Peugeot in its strategic alliance with General Motors; Saint‑Gobain in the sale of its U.S. glass packaging business to Ardagh Glass; Mediclinic International in its combination with Al Noor Hospitals Group; Delhaize in its merger of equals with Royal Ahold; Luxottica in its combination with Essilor; Zodiac Aerospace in its sale to Safran; Richemont in its acquisition of YOOX Net‑A‑Porter, its PIPE investment in Farfetch, in partnership with Alibaba, and the proposed sale of a stake in YOOX Net‑A‑Porter to Farfetch; AXA in its acquisition of XL Group; Technicolor in the sale of its Patent Licensing business and Research & Innovation activity to InterDigital; Peugeot in its merger with Fiat Chrysler to form Stellantis; AngloGold Ashanti in its corporate restructuring and change to domicile in the United Kingdom and primary listing location to the NYSE, as well as its acquisition of the remaining shares of Corvus Gold; Rothschild & Co and its largest shareholder, Concordia, in the take‑private transaction of Rothschild; and Newcrest in its acquisition by Newmont and its acquisition of the remaining shares of Pretivm. Mr. Stephanakis has been repeatedly cited as one of the leading practitioners in capital markets by, among others, Chambers UK, Chambers Global, The Legal 500 UK, IFLR1000 and The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom. He is also a recipient of the 2013 International Law Office – Lexology Client Choice Award in the Capital Markets category for the United Kingdom, which recognizes partners for their excellent client care and quality of service. In addition, Mr. Stephanakis has been recognized for his work in mergers and acquisitions by The Legal 500 UK and The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom. Mr. Stephanakis was born in Athens, Greece. He received an LL.B. summa cum laude from the University of Athens School of Law in 1994, where he was Editor‑in‑Chief of the Law Review. He was an Erasmus student at the Université de Bordeaux I in 1990 and received an LL.M. from Cambridge University in 1995 and an LL.M., as a Fulbright Scholar, from Harvard Law School in 1997. Mr. Stephanakis joined Cravath in 1998 and was elected a partner in 2003. He worked at the Firm’s New York office until June 2006. From July 1, 2006 through the end of the year, Mr. Stephanakis was seconded at the Paris office of Bredin Prat. He joined the Firm’s London office at the beginning of 2007. He is fluent in English, French, Greek and Spanish.