Unpaid providers, many fish lost shipments unsuitable upon arrival at their destination and forced to sell at lower prices, successive administrative changes and funds whose fate… is ignored are just some of the elements that make up the scene today Avramarthe famous “national champion” in Greek and, more broadly, in the Mediterranean. fish farmingwhich was created about four years ago, after the acquisition by the company Andromeda Seafood from “Selonda” And “Nireus“, starring Amerra and Mubadala foundations. “Champion” is, which until now, probably more like … a lame horse. In fact, the potential collapse of the company is estimated to have much more serious and painful consequences for the entire Greek fish farming sector and the sectors involved, from suppliers to transport companies, than if it happened in the previous decade, when Selonda and Nireus ” were forced to come under the control of banks due to their debts (total 346 million euros), as this would create a domino effect on the market.

It is in order to avoid such a possibility that Avramar has recently been negotiating with banks in order to restructure his debts, as well as obtaining a loan as working capital, negotiations on which have not been completed. In fact, according to “Kathimerini” factors with knowledge of the processes, in addition to the extension of the maturity of the debts and the requested liquidity injection – 50 million euros according to the same factors, 3 million euros according to sources close to the company – negotiating table A request for a “haircut” was also made debts. In fact, this request was supposedly made at a meeting with a high-ranking foreign diplomatic agent on the other side of the Atlantic. However, it was rejected – at least for the moment – by the lending banks.

The banks claim that when they were asked to select a buyer for the sale of Selonda and Nireus, they preferred the offer of the Amerra and Mubadala funds to that of the fund. “Foresight”the main shareholder of the Philosofish fishery company, since, among other things, it did not provide for a “cutting off” of debts, contrary to the proposal of Diorasis.

In the context of discussions on a major fortification of Avramar, the possibility of Mubadala contributing €50 million was raised, but the Abu Dhabi Foundation did not take the step. Not because, of course, that he does not have the comfort for this, but because, by the way, relations with the other owner, Amerra, do not seem to be the best. In addition, Mubadala wants to know how the 150 million euros he invested after acquiring Selonda and Nireus will play out, and has recently decided to take a more active role in the management of Avramar, which he has not done before. t done before.

The transformation into a large company that would increase production from 10,000 tons to 70,000 tons never happened.

Why, however, has the much-discussed “national champion”, in whom the whole industry has pinned its hopes to bring Greek fish farming out of the great crisis of the previous decade, still not gained momentum?

Firstly, the transformation into a large company that would increase production from 10,000 tons to 70,000 tons did not really happen. It is also impressive that, although it was originally announced that Andromeda, which already belonged to Amerra, Selonda and Nireus would be merged, the latter two finally merged and only a few days ago the merger with Andromeda began.

And each merger can have many problems and take time to complete, much less to get the expected results, but in this case, the negative signs were from the very beginning. The most prominent example is the removal of Mr. Dimitris Valachi from the post of managing director of Andromeda, despite the fact that he was considered the main “architect” of the acquisition plan for Selonda and Nireus, and while he himself drew up a specific business plan development of the now large group. Mr. Valachi was accused of making Brussels’ approval of the meeting with “asterisks”, which many called an excuse to sin.

Has the opportunity been missed for the “national champion” and for Greek fish farming in general? No, at least not yet. The company has customers, there is also infrastructure. In addition, if fund shareholders, and especially Amerra, wish to withdraw their investment, they must do so after giving away the surplus value to the company.

Greeks, not Turks, are now knocking down prices on the market

Twelve years have passed since the famous McKinsey study of Greece’s new development model, a study that, among other things, analyzed the fish farming sector, which was identified as one of the “rising stars” of the Greek economy. At that time, of course, debts were already accumulating with the two largest fish breeding companies, Selonda and Nireus, which in 2014 came under the control of banks through loan securitization. In the same year, another company, Diaz Fish Farms, had already filed for inclusion in Section 99 of the Bankruptcy Code. It was about a company in which the Georgian Kakka Bedukitze, who suddenly appeared on the Greek market, invested with the Linnaeus Capital Partners fund. In fact, even before 2014, he announced his vision for a great merger in Greek fish farming. As a result, the company went bankrupt.

Greek companies have not modernized in terms of farming methods and equipment.

What will the landscape look like ten years from now? Other major players, but far away from Avramar, are Philosofish, Galaxidi and Kefalonia Fish Farms. However, people who know this market well note that the overall situation for the industry is unfavorable. Philosofish, for example, is weak in terms of sales, partly due to Avramar’s strong market position.

The fish farms of Kefalonia are in a much better position, which is largely due to the decision of the Gerulanos family to sell last year 60% of the company to the Spanish group Profand, which has a very strong presence worldwide, especially in America, in the field of free fishing. processing and distribution, mainly controlling sales networks.

In general, however, Greek fish farming, despite the restructuring of the sector and the fact that it managed to sell its products even in a very difficult phase of the pandemic, in 2020 was still unable to regain the reins of Mediterranean fish farming that it had lost. in the previous decade, and Türkiye acquired them. “The argument that the Turks are lowering prices is now untenable. Now it is Greek companies that are cutting prices on international markets. Also, through Greek partners, they are exported as Greek fish coming from Turkey,” reports in “Kathimerini” experienced marketer.

What happened then? Greek companies have not been modernized in terms of farming methods and equipment, and at the same time, they are not investing as much as they should perhaps in more economical species or in species that would give higher yields due to their characteristics, such as, for example, Mayatiko. Thus, instead of reducing competition, Greek companies now have to face other “players” besides Turkey, the most typical examples of which are Egypt and Tunisia.