Alantra, the independent global mid-market investment banking and asset management firm, has announced that it had recruited a Maritime and Offshore investment banking team within its Investment Banking division.
The new Maritime and Offshore team comprises four members, including two managing partners: George Giannakis and Nicholas Petrakakos. The team plans to further grow by adding another two members in the short term.
The team offers a unique combination of financial, technical and commercial experience in the maritime sector, consolidating both deep investment banking and strong marine engineering backgrounds within its members.
George Giannakis and Nicholas Petrakakos will bring more than 20 years of Investment Banking and Capital Markets experience across M&A, equity and debt capital raising focused on the maritime sector. They joined from StormHarbour Securities, where George set up 'its maritime & real estate activity and Nicholas co-headed the shipping practice. George's expertise includes numerous debt capital markets, equity capital markets and M&A deals in the maritime & offshore sector with a cumulative transaction size of almost $2.0bn. Nicholas' expertise focuses on the origination, structuring, and execution of complex debt and equity transactions, focusing on the maritime and offshore industry. At the same time, he holds deep marine engineering understanding, arming the team with strong industry insight.
The newly recruited team will aim to establish a global maritime practice for Alantra across the main shipping hubs (Greece, Nordics, Germany, and the Middle East) by working closely with the local offices of the Firm, offering the full set of products in terms of M&A, public/non-public equity capital raising, debt capital raising and debt restructuring advisory. In addition, the team brings a strong distribution platform capacity, holding close ties with a diversified set of investors globally, including banks, direct lending funds, private equities, sovereign wealth funds and other real money accounts.
Commenting on the appointments, Miguel Hernandez, CEO of Alantra Investment Banking, said: "We are pleased to add George and Nicholas and the rest of the team, who bring to the company deep sector specialization, immediate origination capacity and unique investor access related to shipping. This announcement marks another step in Alantra's Investment Banking growth strategy to reinforce our sector and product offering."
George Giannakis, Managing Partner, said: "We are thrilled to join Alantra's global platform and entrepreneurial spirit. Alantra's strong geographical footprint in major shipping centers will add great value to our client and investors' portfolio and will help us capitalize significant market opportunities in a fast-changing maritime environment."
