Kos Vavelidis

Partner

About

Kos Vavelidis advises originators, issuers, arrangers, investment managers and investors on a broad range of structured finance, derivatives, securitisation and asset-backed lending matters, with a particular focus on Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs).

He has experience representing the majority of arrangers, warehouse providers and a range of collateral managers and investors on European CLO transactions and warehouse facilities. He has recently represented clients such as Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Neuberger Berman, ICG, Oak Hill Advisors, Ares and CVC.

His experience includes structuring CLOs and public and private securitisations to comply with a variety of regulatory requirements, including the Dodd-Frank Act and the EU and UK Securitisation Regulations. He advises on the EU and UK regulatory framework, including the risk retention and transparency requirements regimes, as they apply to European and U.S. transactions.

He has been at the forefront of developments in the European CLO space and has been involved in the development of new concepts, including uptier priming debt language, new ESG language, rating agency criteria, sanctions language and commercial concepts. Kos has spoken at industry conferences and been quoted in the press on legal developments in the industry.

Kos also has extensive experience in derivatives. He has acted for banks, hedge funds, private equity sponsors, and corporate borrowers, sovereigns, and sovereign wealth funds on a wide spectrum of cross-jurisdictional matters, with a particular emphasis on OTC and structured derivatives transactions in respect of currencies, rates, commodities and credit.

Before joining DLA Piper, Kos worked at a major a US law firm for four years and a Magic Circle firm for six years. He has previously been seconded to the structured finance legal team of a leading global investment bank and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, where he acted as the Determinations Committee Secretary for all regions and worked on the publication of key derivatives documentation.

Kos graduated with a Law degree from King's College London in 2011 and worked as a summer analyst at Goldman Sachs and a diplomatic advisor with the Greek mission to the United Nations in New York before qualifying as a solicitor.

Areas of FocusFinance Financial Services Investment Management and Funds

Professional QualificationsSolicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales

EXPERIENCE

CLOs

Kos has advised arrangers and managers on more than 50 European CLO transactions and warehouses, including the following closed deals*:

- Advising Barclays on the Redding Ridge 8, Redding Ridge 12, Harvest XXI Refi, Northwoods 23 Euro, CVC XXI, OCP 2020-4 Reset, Neuberger Berman 2, Aqueduct 6, Invesco V, CIFC III, Capital Four II, CVC XI Refi, Henley IV, Goldentree 5, BBAM II, Contego X, Palmer Square 2022-2 and Voya VI CLOs.
- Advising Bank of America Merrill Lynch on the OCP 2022-5, Aqueduct 7-2022 and Margay I CLOs.
- Advising BNP Paribas on the Toro 5 CLO.
- Advising Citi on the Harvest XXII, Ares XIII and Redding Ridge 11 CLO.
- Advising Credit Suisse on the Aurium IX and Harvest XXIX CLOs.
- Advising Deutsche Bank on the CVC XXII and Aurium II Reissue CLOs.
- Advising Goldman Sachs on the Redding Ridge 9 and Voya IV Reset CLOs.
- Advising Jefferies on the Carlyle 2017-2 Reset, Carlyle 2021-3, CVC XXIII, Hayfin IV Reset, Hayfin VII and St Pauls’ II Reset CLOs.
- Advising Morgan Stanley on the Jubilee 2019-XXIII and Rockford 2021-2 CLOs.
- Advising Neuberger Berman on the Neuberger Berman 3 CLO.
- Advising ICG on the St. Paul’s XII CLO.
- Advising Oak Hill Advisors on the Oak Hill VIII CLO.
- Advising CVC on the CVC XVII Reset CLO.
- Advising Ares on a number of European CLOs.

Derivatives, structured finance and asset-backed lending*

- Representing a leading international investment bank on a number of asset-backed lending facilities.
- Representing a global investment bank on total return swap transactions, often structured as securitisations.
- Advising leading international investment banks, sovereigns, corporates, buy side firms and major banks on hedging aspects, ISDA documentation and collateral arrangements with respect to bilateral trading agreements, syndicated and standalone facilities and leveraged finance, Islamic finance, securitisation, project finance and covered bond deals.
- Advising on OTC derivatives, structured finance transactions linked to credit, rates, currencies and commodities, ISDAs, GMRAs and GMSLAs.
- Acting for syndicates of banks on hedgings of multi-billion syndicated project financings.
- Acting for a global investment bank on a high-profile cross-border credit and gold-linked transaction with a sovereign.
- Advising major dealers on deliverability issues of bonds and loans in connection with credit default swaps.
- Advising syndicates of leading global financial institutions on their Eurozone crisis contingency planning, on the banking crises in Greece, Portugal and Cyprus and on major counterparty defaults.

*Denotes experience from previous firms.