The prospects of the Greek economy are positive
“Greece is back on the map. We have stability and the prospects of the economy are moving very well” emphasized the vice-chairman of the Board of Directors and managing director of the Intrakat Group and Partner of Thrivest Holdings, Alexandros Exarchou in a speech in London, where he referred extensively to Thrivest Holding’s investments in the country’s banking industry .
Mr. Exarchou was the keynote speaker at the Christmas dinner of the Hellenic Bankers Association of the United Kingdom, held on Saturday, December 9, in London, and spoke to around 300 people about Thrivest Holding’s investment in the Greek banking sector and Winex Investments in Intrakat, as well as about Greece’s prospects and underlined his optimism for the country’s economy, which has shown remarkable resilience and is now attracting significant investment.
Mr. Exarchou recounted the history of the entry of the investment scheme initially to Pancreatia Bank (which had decided to absorb the Greek network of HSBC) and then to Attica Bank. It was the management of Attica Bank, as he pointed out, that convinced the group of Thrivest shareholders to get involved in the venture to create the 5th banking pillar, investing in two banks that were facing chronic problems, with the aim through this investment and the joining of their forces to spring up a new, healthy and strong bank, according to the ambitious business plan he had presented.
The head of Intrakat admitted that it was an action that was characterized as unthinkable at the time due to the large non-performing exposures of the specific banks, however the launch and enactment of “Hercules 3” finally confirmed the correctness of the initial planning of the shareholders of Thrivest and the development planning of the management of Attica Bank. In fact, he pointed out that the new “Hercules” will not only facilitate the implementation of the Thrivest investment plan and the consolidation of non-systemic banks, but will also indirectly benefit the systemic banks, underlining the significant support provided by the Greek government for the establishment of the this solution.
“When we decided to invest in this sector, our friends told us we were crazy and that we would lose money. On the contrary, we noticed early on that things had started to move in Greece. And we were sure that funds and investors would return to the country,” Mr. Exarchou emphasized.
The head of Intrakat also referred to the entry of Winex Investments into the share capital of the construction company, which was initially met with mistrust due to the very difficult decade that the construction industry in Greece had experienced more broadly.
Mr. Exarchou pointed out that in time the equity group had foreseen the return of construction to growth and for this reason it was decisively positioned in Intrakat, which, a year and a half after its new management took office, has returned to profitability, has seen capitalization on the Stock Exchange to jump to 600 million euros – an increase of approximately 200% -, has succeeded in increasing the backlog to 5 billion euros (after the acquisition of Aktor), while it has very little borrowing.
“Our investment history proves that Greece is changing” he noted and spoke of a new environment that attracts investment and offers both governmental stability and prospects for success. “Greece was not “dead”. He survived and today you will see that investing in Greece is the best thing an investor in Europe can do today” he added.
A common finding of this meeting was that the economic situation for Greece is excellent, as it is estimated that the country will continue to move dynamically in the foreseeable future, despite the general climate of uncertainty that prevails in Europe. Key factors for this assessment are the upcoming major projects of the Recovery Fund, the continuation of the positive flow of investments, as well as fiscal and investment stability. In addition, Greece has regained investment grade, which entails multiple benefits for the economy, and is experiencing a significant boost in economic activity.
