Alen Memić is a senior in-house legal executive with 15 years of experience across the banking, financial services, investment and distressed asset sectors. Throughout his career, he has built a strong track record advising on complex cross-border transactions, investment structures, non-performing loan (NPL) portfolios and corporate governance issues across multiple European jurisdictions.

He currently serves as Legal Director at APS Holding, an international investment and asset management group specialising in investments and distressed assets. Based in Luxembourg, he leads legal support for mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, financing transactions and investment activities across Europe.

A significant part of his current mandate involves providing comprehensive legal counsel to investment funds and related investment structures throughout the entire transaction lifecycle, from origination and due diligence through negotiation, acquisition, servicing and exit. He regularly advises on complex contractual arrangements, corporate reorganisations, fund structuring matters and cross-border legal risk management while ensuring alignment between legal requirements and business objectives.

In addition to his legal leadership responsibilities, Alen serves as director of APS group companies incorporated in Luxembourg. In this capacity, he combines legal expertise with board-level governance responsibilities, contributing to strategic decision-making, corporate oversight and the implementation of robust governance frameworks. His directorship roles provide him with a unique commercial perspective, enabling him to bridge legal considerations with broader business and investment objectives while supporting the group’s continued expansion.

Prior to joining APS Holding, Alen served as Senior Lawyer at APS Investments s.r.o., the Czech affiliate of the APS Group, where he was involved in numerous investment and portfolio acquisition transactions throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Earlier in his career, he held the position of Executive Director and Head of Legal & Compliance at APS Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he oversaw all legal, regulatory and compliance matters and played a key role in supporting the company’s growth and operational development.

Before moving to the investment sector, Alen held leadership positions in credit recovery. As Head of Workout at HETA Asset Resolution, he managed a team of 15 professionals and was responsible for approximately EUR 500 million of non-performing loan exposures. His work included the development and execution of complex recovery strategies involving both judicial and out-of-court enforcement mechanisms. Earlier, at Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank, he gained extensive practical experience in banking operations, credit risk and debt recovery.

Across his career, Alen has developed deep expertise in NPL portfolio transactions from both buy-side and sell-side perspectives, including transaction structuring, legal due diligence, contract negotiation, regulatory analysis, operational implementation, data quality management and post-closing integration. His combination of legal, operational and commercial experience makes him particularly effective in managing large-scale transactions and delivering practical solutions in highly regulated environments.

Alongside his professional achievements, Alen is an accomplished long-distance runner whose commitment to discipline, resilience and continuous improvement is reflected both in his sporting and professional pursuits. His personal bests include 16:52 for 5 km, 35:37 for 10 km, 1:15:28 for the half marathon and 2:44:49 for the marathon, achieved in official races across Europe.

What are the key projects you have been involved in over the past twelve months?

Over the past twelve months, I have been closely involved in a range of complex cross-border investment and restructuring projects, primarily focused on non-performing loan (NPL) portfolios and real estate (RE) assets across Europe. These projects span the full lifecycle, from origination and structuring through to execution and post-closing implementation.

In my capacity as legal director, I play a central and hands-on role throughout the transaction process. This includes supporting deal sourcing and structuring, leading legal workstreams on acquisitions, financings and restructurings and coordinating closely with investment teams, management and external counsel across multiple jurisdictions.

My impact lies in ensuring that transactions are executed efficiently, with a strong focus on risk allocation, legal robustness and commercial feasibility. By actively managing timelines, negotiating key documentation and resolving structuring challenges, I contribute directly to deal certainty and successful closings. This role also requires balancing competing interests across stakeholders while maintaining strict delivery discipline, which has been critical in advancing multiple transactions to completion within demanding timeframes.

Overall, my work enables the business to deploy capital effectively across jurisdictions while maintaining a high level of legal control and consistency, supporting both immediate transaction outcomes and the long-term scalability of the investment platform.

Can you describe an instance where your legal advice directly influenced business strategy or commercial objectives?

A clear example is my involvement in structuring and executing several NPL portfolio and restructuring transactions, where legal considerations had a direct impact on the commercial approach and timing of the investment.

In one such instance, the initial transaction structure would have exposed the business to delays and execution risk due to regulatory and cross-border legal constraints. By advising on an alternative structuring approach — adjusting the legal framework of the acquisition and financing — I was able to significantly streamline the transaction timeline and improve deal certainty. This allowed the investment team to proceed with a more competitive bid and align execution with commercial timelines.

More broadly, this type of input is a recurring feature of my role. Legal structuring decisions directly influence key commercial parameters, including speed to closing, capital deployment efficiency and risk allocation. In an investment-driven environment, where timing and execution discipline are critical, I act not only as a legal advisor, but also as a strategic partner, ensuring that legal solutions actively support and enhance business objectives rather than constrain them.

How do you manage situations where legal advice and commercial objectives conflict?

Conflicts between legal and commercial objectives are a natural part of working on complex cross-border transactions, particularly in an investment-driven environment where timing and execution are critical.

My approach is not to position legal advice as a constraint, but to translate legal risks into clear commercial implications and work with the business to identify viable solutions. This involves setting out the key legal considerations, quantifying potential risks and consequences and then proposing alternative structuring options that preserve the commercial intent while ensuring compliance and legal robustness.

In practice, this often means facilitating informed decision-making rather than simply providing a “yes” or “no” answer. By engaging closely with investment and management teams, I aim to find a balanced outcome, one that appropriately manages legal risk without unnecessarily limiting commercial flexibility.

Ultimately, my role is to act as a bridge between legal requirements and business objectives, ensuring that transactions can proceed efficiently, with a clear understanding of the associated risks and trade-offs.

Beyond your legal role, is there a cause or initiative you are especially passionate about?

Outside of my legal role, I am deeply committed to long-distance running, which has evolved from a personal stress-management tool into a defining discipline in my life.

What started as a way to balance the demands of a high-intensity professional environment has developed into a pursuit of continuous personal improvement. Running teaches consistency, resilience and long-term focus, qualities that translate directly into how I approach complex transactions and demanding timelines in my professional role.

I have achieved a marathon personal best of 2:44 and a half-marathon time of 1:15, and I continue to train with the objective of improving further. What motivates me most is the principle that progress is measured against oneself — striving each day to be better than the previous one.