In response to calls by the Greek authorities for investments in the Greek market, and despite the ongoing crisis, a team of well-known, major Greek-American entrepreneurs along with two other partners, one of whom lives in Athens, have made a joint bid valued at approximately $1 billion for the acquisition of Ethniki Hellenic General Insurance Company (“Ethniki Insurance”), a subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece.
Offers have also been submitted by three Chinese groups.
The expatriates are John Calamos, whose company Calamos Asset Management Inc. manages about $20 billion, John Koudounis who has 30 years of financial services experience and serves as the CEO of Calamos Asset Management, global insurance executive Matt Fairfield, as well as Pavlos Kanellopoulos, a businessman based in Greece.
Their company operates under the name EXIN Partners.
This team, therefore, combines knowledge of the insurance and financial markets in general, as well as knowledge of the Greek market and reality.
The selection of the preferred bidder is estimated to be made by the National Bank’s Board of Directors by the end of the month.
Expatriate reactions
The news of Calamos and Koudounis’ interest in the Greek insurance market – preceded by a series of reports in the Greek financial press – was widely discussed in Greek-American business circles.
Many worry that if expatriate investments in the Greek economy are once again impeded, for various reasons, there will be very unpleasant long-term effects.
“If this occurs again,” a Greek-American who requested anonymity and who attempted in the past to make a significant investment in Greece without success told TNH, “it will be decades before expatriates are interested in major investments in Greece again and it is almost certain that this will have consequences on the Greek-American relations.”
Concern for the Chinese
The increasing Chinese involvement in the Greek market, particularly in strategic sectors such as the port of Piraeus, causes concern for leading players in Greece as well as the Trump administration – according to TNH sources – because they foresee that the Chinese’s ultimate goal is the takeover of the National Bank of Greece.
Thus, if this happens, Chinese businesses, which are often subsidized by their government, will control strategic Greek assets and will potentially have a significant influence on both the country and the surrounding region.
National symbols
It is worth noting that Ethniki Insurance was founded 125 years ago, specifically on June 15,1891 with the National Bank of Greece as its principal shareholder and with the participation of the Bank of Constantinople, the Privileged Bank of Epirus and Thessaly, the General Credit Bank of Greece and the Industrial Credit Bank.
The company once insured former Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos.
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