Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) confirmed that Greece’s Piraeus Bank has taken a big batch of shipping loans formerly on the books of HSBC.

The international law firm said it advised Piraeus on the acquisition of 26 bilateral loan facilities worth about $265m.

TradeWinds had already reported earlier this year about HSBC withdrawing from shipping and that Greek lenders, mainly Piraeus Bank, were believed to be the biggest buyers of the portfolio.