Roberta Markovina

I am originally from Seattle, Washington. I studied Sociology and Criminal Justice at University of Washington before attaining a JD, magnum cum laude, at the University of Wisconsin.

I am New York qualified and worked in New York City for two years prior to joining Herbert Smith in November 2006. I am based in the firm’s London office.

When I joined Herbert Smith in November 2006 from the New York firm where I had spent my first two years in practice, I was not sure how the working environment would differ from what I was used to. It didn’t take me long to find out... It struck me straight away that there is a very different culture here. There’s a far higher degree of collaboration, support and sharing of know-how and, consequently, a greater sense of teamwork among the lawyers. The result is that you can get the answer to nearly any question without having to reinvent the wheel.

These qualities of teamwork and collaboration were evidenced during the biggest deal I have worked on to date − the €5.19bn (US$ 7.27bn) capital raising in mid-2007 by Marfin Investment Group the Athens-listed private equity unit of Marfin Popular Bank (MPB). On the transaction, Herbert Smith advised Citi, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch as joint bookrunners in relation to MIG’s global share offering.

This big, complex and highly international deal certainly provided plenty of scope for sharing of expertise and know-how across and beyond Herbert Smith. As well as being the largest rights issue ever in Greece and the largest public capital raising for an investment company anywhere in the world, the transaction also raised securities law issues under multiple legal systems − US, Greek and UK − while the marketing plan required advice from a large number of other countries in Europe and the rest of the world. On top of these factors, the deal was conducted under intense time pressure.

Working closely with three partners − Alex Bafi, who led the team on US law issues; Nigel Farr, the head of the firm’s funds practice; and Greg Mulley, who led on UK equity capital markets aspects − I quickly took a central role. I was in the right place at the right time, so I largely took over the responsibilities surrounding the most significant sections of the prospectus. Pretty soon I became the ‘go-to’ person on the status and information flow for the whole transaction.

The time pressure and international nature of the project were reflected by a need for foreign travel. I worked closely with external Greek counsel Karatzas & Partners, and visited Athens twice during the transaction − the first times I had even been to the city.

As well as being fast-paced, I found the deal both extremely interesting in legal terms, and great experience personally. It was especially fascinating to see the interplay among the US, European and Greek aspects. I also found that the due diligence process taught me a lot about different financial structures, because of the innovative way MIG had structured its existing investments.

As the deal progressed, we had a Greek team advising on the Greek aspects and a UK team on the UK and other European aspects. The biggest challenge was the complex relationship between the international offering and the Greek prospectus, since it was not the type of document that most international investors are familiar with. So I had to find a way to market the offering without compromising the integrity of the Greek prospectus. It was a real challenge.

The team’s success in meeting this challenge was confirmed when it met the accelerated timeframe for completion, closing the deal on July 16, just three-and-a-half months after kick-off. The timeframe added a further layer of complexity and pressure.  The deal started at a sprint in April, then took a pause for breath during May, and finally resumed at world-record pace through to the close.

However, my main take-away was not the deal’s speed or complexity, but its wider underlying significance for ordinary people across South Eastern Europe. There’s a myth among the public, and even among the legal community, that corporate attorneys only make the rich richer. This project symbolised for me that this is absolutely not the case.

MIG intends to use the capital it has raised to invest in projects like large-scale public infrastructure, healthcare, and energy, telecoms and utilities. And it’s looking to do this across South-Eastern Europe, in a region that includes countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia to name but a few. With €5.2 billion in equity and €10 billion in debt to invest, MIG has huge potential to make a real difference to the lives of people living in these countries.

My other major take-away from the transaction was about Herbert Smith and its people. Throughout the deal, I was hugely impressed with not only the calibre, quality and intelligence of everyone on the Herbert Smith team, but also with how friendly, co-operative and legally creative they all were. The way we all came together to get the deal done was truly inspiring − especially at the end when the time pressure was really on. And the full-on collaboration and teamwork extended beyond Herbert Smith to the Greek counsel, clients, and even MIG itself. It was a great example of international legal co-operation − and I felt privileged to be at the heart of it.