Attica Group’s evolution into one of the world’s largest liners is behind the battle for control of MIG’s general assembly. The battle that led Piraeus Bank to aggressively increase its position in MIG and finally to a public offer to acquire all of its shares.

Attica Group, when the current ANEK takeover process is completed, according to shipping broker sources contacted by K, will have one of the five largest fleets in the world in terms of total tonnage, the second largest passenger traffic in the world and one of the top five fleets by mileage, i.e. automobile transport. Market sources add that it will continue to play a vital national role, linking the island to the mainland for twelve months.

On the lines of Crete, as well as on the lines of the Adriatic, it will now directly compete with the other largest liner on the planet, the Italian group Grimaldi. In the Aegean, it will continue to compete with smaller, more flexible companies and, above all, with the Seajets group, which operates mainly with seasonal high-speed craft and has the largest fleet of high-speed craft in the world.

Tomorrow is a repeat of the extraordinary G.S. are asking for approval to swap MIG’s Attica shares with $443 million in debt held by Strix Holdings.

It is this group whose leader, Marios Iliopoulos, is trying to get a negotiating position next day in Greek shipping by buying MIG’s voting rights and causing a shareholder confrontation with Piraeus Bank over the past few days. A showdown that has more than quadrupled in share price in two months as both sides struggle to win majority voting rights. In this race, Piraeus Bank was leading by a margin, having increased its position from 32% in 10 days to 49.34% already on Friday morning. But those rights do not have voting rights at tomorrow’s repeated extraordinary general meeting convened to approve a deal to swap MIG’s Attica shares for its $443 million debt owned by Strix Holdings. This sister company Piraeus (the financial interests of the two persons are identical), to which the bank transferred all its claims from MIG, proposed to the board of directors of the latter, and he agreed, an exchange of debt for shares held by MIG. in Attica (79.38%). Thus, Strix will become the owner of more than 90% of the shares of Attica (it already owns 12%). However, this requires ratification by the general meeting of the MIL, which the Iliopoulos side seeks to veto. On the basis of the share balances just formed, tomorrow’s general meeting, if not postponed again, is expected to vote in favor of the agreement. If it is delayed, then Piraeus Bank will have time to credit all the voting rights it has bought and has not yet transferred, which will make the vote a walk for Piraeus, bank sources explain.

Piraeus is trying, on the one hand, to strengthen Attica Group, on the other hand, to save ANEK, in which it also has increased shares of capital and credit, and at the same time reorganize MIG, which will practically nullify its borrowing.

Attica Group, upon completion of the above relocations, in addition to its growth per se and the synergies that it entails, will receive the relocation necessary to implement its business plan. Among other things, this provides for a three-stage investment and shipbuilding program with a budget of $1.1 billion. The $100 million first phase, funded by equity, the Recovery Fund and a bank loan, is already underway and will be completed within two years. We are talking about the so-called “greening” of the existing fleet in order to minimize its impact on the environment as much as possible.

In the second phase, the company, whose valuation after the ANEK merger is expected to exceed one billion (EV), is implementing a shipbuilding program to renew its fleet on a budget of 550 million and to drastically curb carbon emissions. . In the third stage, he will replace his current newest ships with new ones. The ambitions of the liner, whose management has proven de facto that it can successfully lead the company through successive crises, have already reached the western Mediterranean. It has acquired 49% of Tangier-based Africa Morocco Link (AML), already the largest liner on routes to Spanish Algeria with four ships and is currently expanding.