The Greek private equity ecosystem has gained critical mass as it now plays a catalytic role in business restructuring and financing, as well as in the process of consolidation of disparate industries. With funds now collectively worth several billion euros under management and professional managers, often with extensive previous banking experience, such as Nikos Karamouzis and Apostolos Tamvakakis, have acquired significant holding portfolios in Greek companies. And in fact, they have already written reports that can be compared with the best internationally.

and family offices

This ecosystem, which began to develop in the second half of the previous decade, has now added family offices, investment schemes, such as those of Marianne Latsis and the Vasilisa and Nellis Katz families.

And in the last few years, investment funds have also entered this market, resulting from the transformation of listed companies, with the most characteristic example of all the ideal interests of Lambros Papakonstantinou. Intracom, an interest of the S. Kokkalis group, is reportedly following the same path that Intracom Ventures was announced two months ago.

These are purely Greek private investment schemes, where the capital is mainly placed by Greek persons, who sometimes also attract financing from European funds and invest in Greek companies in order to restructure and develop them and, of course, register goodwill in the sale process.

A typical example is certainly DECA Investments, which began as an investment scheme for the interests of businessman Dimitris Daskalopoulos. but it has evolved into an investment organization that, among other things, manages Diorama, in which other private investors participate. DECA recorded a record profit on the sale of JP Morgan’s acquired stake in Viva. The Latsco family office, owned by Marianne Latsis, was also involved in this particular transaction. Diorama, with capital in excess of $200 million, is acquiring significant minority or controlling stakes in some of the most promising SMEs through equity or equity-like instruments. A similar strategy is being pursued by EOS Capital Partners, led by Apostolos Tamvakakis. He has also achieved record high earnings, for example with Cosmos Sports.

The structure of the market with small and medium-sized enterprises creates opportunities for high profits.

SMEremediumCap (SMERC), led by Nikos Karamouzis, is placed in small and medium enterprises, as well as banking claims of troubled companies. With $150 million in capital, he has built a portfolio that starts with outright ownership of hotels and a general facility management group, and a food production and distribution group, going up to loans of 72 hotels he has acquired from Intrum. .

Favorable environment

Greece has the smallest mid-sized companies in Europe with an average turnover of 10 million and an average operating profit of 1 million. This environment creates opportunities for investors who invest in Greek private equity and are proven to generate high returns. higher than what would have been achieved in the international stock markets, Nikos Karamouzis pointed out a few months ago. However, Southbridge also has a significant market presence, raising around $200 million in capital and often funding companies through convertible bonds without necessarily being involved in management. Southbridge is a band created by Giorgos Mavridis, Evi Adrianou and Miltos Kornaros. Another fund with a significant presence in the Greek market is Elikonos Capital of Katsoulas, Papageorgiou and Solomos.

A separate dynamic story is Ideal Holdings, which under the leadership of Lambros Papaconstantinou has evolved from a listed company with specific activities to an investment fund and holding company with strong shareholders and an investment strategy in quality companies with significant growth prospects. Intracom seems to be following this path to a certain extent. A Greek listed company recently announced the creation of a new wholly owned subsidiary, Intracom Ventures, with the aim of short and long term investments in various sectors, with a preference for those in which the company has many years of experience (gambling, energy, etc.).

The same is true for VNK Capital. It is a fund of interests of the Katsu pharmaceutical family, which states that its investment philosophy is based on the principle of investing in companies operating in sectors with attractive dynamics. Among his most notable positions is an equity position in Lamda Development along with Gray Squirrel of the Olympia Group, which is an investment vehicle for Panos Germanos.

Along the perimeter of this wider ecosystem described above, there are also powerful family investment offices, often from large Greek shipping companies, that place the capital earned from pontoporos on the Greek market. Real estate, very often hotels, is an investment in the first place, while there are also some charitable business establishments, such as Onasio, which acquire stakes in Greek companies.

Collectively, the above and other similar private organizations, in addition to the positive impact they have on the Greek economy by funding promising enterprises, play another important role: as de facto experts in Greek entrepreneurship, they send a signal to international investors that significant opportunities in the country and thus improving the investment climate and efforts to attract foreign capital.