Practice
George Karafotias is a partner in the Corporate Group in London. His practice focuses on public and private mergers and acquisitions, particularly cross-border M&A transactions, and in joint ventures, strategic alliances, takeover strategies and other significant corporate transactions. He also regularly advises clients on U.S. corporate law and federal securities law issues. Mr. Karafotias joined the firm in New York in 1998, and has been practicing in the London office since 2003.

Mr. Karafotias is ranked by Mergermarket as Europe’s second top legal advisor on completed M&A transactions, based on value, for the five-year period ending December 31, 2011.

• Charter International plc in connection with its £1.5 billion acquisition by Colfax Corporation
• Ardagh Glass Group S.A. in connection with its acquisition of Impress Coöperatieve U.A. for €1.7 billion
• Cadbury plc in connection with the unsolicited takeover proposal from Kraft Foods Inc.
• Mid Europa Partners in connection with its acquisition of a controlling stake in Invitel Holdings A/S and related debt restructuring, and with its subsequent tender offer for the remaining shares in Invitel Holdings A/S not already owned by Mid Europa Partners
• Pão de Açucar Group in connection with its acquisition of Ponto Frio for US$422 million
• AngloGold Ashanti Limited in connection with the sale of its joint venture interest in the Boddington Gold Mine in Western Australia to Newmont Mining Corporation for approximately $1.1 billion
• BAE Systems plc in connection with its acquisition of Detica plc for approximately $1.1 billion
• The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc in connection with its consortium acquisition of ABN AMRO Holding N.V. for approximately $98 billion
• Norsk Hydro ASA in the merger of its oil and gas activities with Statoil ASA to create the world’s largest offshore operator with a market capitalization of approximately $90 billion
• Arcelor Mittal in its acquisition of Siderúrgica Lázaro Cárdenas las Truchas, S.A. de C.V., the leading long steel producer in Mexico, and BSRM Holdings, Inc., a mini-mill in Texas, United States for a combined enterprise value of $1,439 million
• Indian Hotels Company Limited, a member of the Tata Group, in connection with its investment in Orient-Express Hotels Ltd.
• Rio Tinto plc in its strategic investment in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.
• The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of HCA Inc. in connection with HCA Inc.’s going private transaction valued at approximately $33 billion
• The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of ARAMARK in connection with ARAMARK’s going private transaction valued at approximately $8.3 billion
• Arcelor S.A. in its acquisition of Dofasco Inc. for C$5.6 billion
• ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and Morgan Stanley & Co. Limited as financial advisors to Euronext N.V. in connection with its merger with NYSE Group, Inc. to create the world’s largest securities exchange with a market capitalization of approximately $20 billion
• Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica S.A. in its corporate restructuring and listing on the Novo Mercado segment of the São Paulo Stock Exchange
• PetroChina Company Limited in its privatization of Jilin Chemical Industrial Company Ltd. pursuant to the first general offer for a PRC company with domestic “A” shares listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and foreign invested “H” shares listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange
• AngloGold Limited in its acquisition of Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited pursuant to the first scheme of arrangement effected under Ghanaian law
• Fiat S.p.A. in its strategic alliance with General Motors