If the decade-long economic and fiscal crisis was a period of cleansing, redefinition of market leaders and generally major changes in Greek business, the coming of the pandemic and bets concerning the day after, such as the absorption of Recovery Fund, will act as a catalyst for a new round of business activity.
Thus, a number of key sectors in the Greek economy have entered a very interesting period of very intensive processes, acquisitions and stock reclassifications, something that - in terms of listed companies - is reflected on the Athens bourse.
Both in the foreground and in the background, there is mobility in many industries, as dozens of groups - in view of the new reality that is coming - are repositioning themselves in the market, through stronger schemes. Shareholders, owners, funds and entrepreneurs are weighing up the developments based on the pandemic and the next day.
Infrastructure - Constructions
Changes in the shareholdings of the GEK TERNA group are the top development of the last period, while the other large infrastructure group, Ellaktor, is also going through large changes. The departure of the Dutch fund Reggeborgh Invest from the GEK TERNA group brought Marianna Latsi to the group with a stake of 7.6 percent (for 88 million euros), while the head of the company Giorgos Peristeris will raise his stake from 15.98 percent today at 32 percent.
To boost liquidity, Peristeris sold 1.86 percent of Terna Energy shares yesterday through the ATHEX, for 28 million euros. At the same time, a large block trade was conducted in the parent company GEK TERNA, as 446,429 shares changed hands, at 11.20 euros per share, ie at a significant premium, versus the closing price of 9.55 euros.
Green energy and RES
The energy industry, with a leading and central shift to clean energy in view of the Green Deal of Europe, is constantly in the forefront of business and the stock market.
On March 2, Terna Energy signed an agreement with OceanWinds, which is a joint venture of EDP Renewables and ENGIE, for the joint development of floating offshore wind farms in Greek seas. The goal of the two companies is to develop a complete project plan with a total capacity of more than 1.5 GW, which will be implemented over a decade. PPC recently signed an agreement with the German company RWE Renewables with the aim of investing more than 1 billion euros in Renewable Energy Sources.
IT industry
There are many developments in the IT industry. It returns dynamically to Greek entrepreneurship after many years, and is now at the center of developments, involving some of the largest and most complex projects for the digital transformation of public administration and the private sector.
A top development is the acquisition of Singular Logic by the space Hellas and Epsilon Net, while in recent months we had the acquisition of Wedia by Entersoft, the acquisition of the Cypriot company CloudfinLTD by Inform Lykos, while last October Epsilon Net acquired 80 percent of Data Communication for 6.3 million euros.
E-commerce
In April 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, the large American fund CVC Capital Partners, invested in the leading online platform in the field of price comparison and retail sales Skroutz, acquiring a minority stake of 49 percent. A move that marked the huge changes that would follow since then in the field of online sales. In November 2020, Skroutz acquired 25 percent of the online trading company EveryPay.
Also, in 2021, Skroutz entered the field of courier in an effort to verticalize its services, acquiring 100 percent of the company MyJobNowDelivery that develops the courier service SendX. The latter has 130 motorcycles and ten vans, while the goal is its rapid development.
Logistics
There are also significant movements in the field of logistics, an industry that is experiencing strong growth, especially after the strengthening of the port of Piraeus and the interconnection with other forms of transport such as rail and air transport, through the development of regional airports.
Many real estate investment companies are investing in warehouses and buildings compatible with the logistics market. According to local players, in 2020 the total investments in storage facilities, mainly in Attica in the areas of Aspropyrgos and Markopoulos, approached approximately 100 million euros.
Packaging industry
There are also developments in the packaging industry that due to the pandemic and the rapid increase in the need for transport of goods, comes to the fore. In December, two deals were recorded in the industry. Haitoglou - Hartel SA was first acquired by Frem Industrial Group, which is a member of the Intevco group of companies. Then, the acquisition of the listed Paperpack Tsoukaridis by a Chinese fund through the Cypriot Orlando-Equity Holding Limited was announced. The deal was done at 6.66 euros per share, ie a total of 26.3 million euros.
Insurance
In the insurance sector, and while the developments regarding the discussed sale of National Insurance to CVC Capital are soon expected, the move by Generali to acquire AXA in Greece was particularly important for shaping the balances in the market. The price amounted to 165 million euros. Meanwhile, Bloomberg recently reported that the MetLife group is looking for a buyer for its activities in Greece.
Greek funds in food
There is also mobility from Greek funds that have acquired stakes in developing companies in the food sector. In January, Elikonos 2 S.C.A. SICAR acquired a minority stake in
Megas Gyros for 4 million euros, while about two weeks ago EOS Capital Partners and Elikonos 2 S.C.A. SICAR, co-invested in the Greek company Eurocatering.
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