x

Politics

Calamos Group Takeover of Greek Insurer Still Lagging

February 5, 2018

ATHENS – The takeover of Greece’s Ethniki Insurance, the country’s largest, by a group led by Greek-American billionaire investor John Calamos missed a Jan. 31 deadline to submit a list of stakeholders to the Bank of Greece and now reportedly wants to bring in a British fund.

The Calamos-Exin group won a bid more than seven months ago but still hasn’t finished naming who will be involved to finance the deal, according to Kathimerini. The British fund manages one billion euros ($1.25 billion) and reportedly wants to put 300 million euros ($373.35 million) as a partner.

Exin claims it has tabled a full set of documents with the additional data it was asked for and that the deadline for the process is March 31, not Jan. 31, the paper said, adding that it was told by unnamed sources all the information isn’t available and that an Exin email last week didn’t list the bank’smonitoring department of private insurance companies as a formal recipient.

The same sources further confirmed that Exin has never submitted an integrated proposal presenting its stakeholder lineup but didn’t indicate whether the deal was in any danger of collapsing.

Exin-Calamos came out as the winning bidder last year for Ethniki, reportedly offering between 700-750 million euros ($787.25-$843.49 million) for a 75 percent stake in the insurance arm, the country’s biggest insurer with an 18 percent market share.

Calamos is a billionaire owner of his own asset management company whose CEO is fellow Greek-American John Koudounis.

Earlier, it was reported that the group wanted to bring in American investment mammoths Pimco and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway,  one of the world’s richest man and a long-time financial sage, but could not confirm it and other reports denied Pimco’s interest.

Sources told the paper new funding vehicle may also include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, though EBRD sources declined to comment.

Exin has not revealed the amount of capital the new funding contributors will bring in, but Kathimerini said the upcoming changes will also alter the holdings of Koudounis and  Calamos who could find their roles reduced although it wasn’t clear.

RELATED

MONTREAL- In his interview on the CTV television network, following his meeting with his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, where the strengthening of bilateral relations was emphasized and the agreement for the delivery of seven state-of-the-art firefighting aircraft was signed, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis focused on the significant improvement in the economic climate and the increasing attraction of investments to Greece Just before the European elections in June, the Prime Minister emphasized, “For the first time, we will give the opportunity to our diaspora, those who have the right to vote in Greece, to utilize the postal vote to participate in the European elections.

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.

Video

A Palestinian Baby in Gaza is Born an Orphan in an Urgent Cesarean Section after an Israeli Strike

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Sabreen Jouda came into the world seconds after her mother left it.

ATHENS – The world-famous humanoid robot Sophia filled the auditorium of the American Community Schools of Athens April 23, fascinating many in the audience.

ATHENS - The exact burial site of Plato has been identified, thanks to research conducted by the Italian Research Foundation, based on papyri from the site of Herculaneum, near Naples.

ATHENS - S&P credit rating agency upgraded Greece’s outlook to 'positive' from 'stable' on Friday, April 19, 2024 while maintaining the investment-grade rating of BBB-.

ATHENS - The Ministry of National Economy and Finance is pressing ahead with a legislative regulation, which it will submit to Parliament within the week or at the latest the following day, to slash the fees for POS transactions.

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.