10,648,800 shares changed hands. It should be noted that the head of the U.S. interests hedge fund, John Paulson, holds an interest also in Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank. Paulson’s fund is one of the first to be placed in Greece, when prospects began peeking in the Greek economy.
The value of the transaction corresponds to a discount of almost 13% over the current price.
The participation of the top hedge fund in the share capital of EYDAP indicates the considerable potential that the Greek-based water company has. It presented increased profits after taxes in 2013 and the consolidated earnings per share stood at 0.73 euros compared to 0.48 euros in 2012.
According to the announcement, the company will propose a dividend of EUR 0.36 per share plus reserve distribution from untaxed income of EUR 0.02 per share.
The company belongs to Public Utility Organizations that are under privatization and according to the evaluation report of the European Commission “submitting binding bids depends on the decision of the State Council on the legality of the transfer of shares in HRADF.”
According to the shareholding structure of EYDAP (as it is mentioned on the company’s website) the HRADF controls 61.33 % and Piraeus Bank 10 % whereas 21.61 % is controlled by Legal Entities and 7.08 % by Individuals.
Who is John Paulson
Known as “the man who made one of the largest fortunes in the history of Wall Street” the 58-year-old John Paulson began his career in 1980 in the Boston Consulting Group as a consultant. He was ambitious to work on Wall Street so he soon went to Bear Sterns, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions, and in 1994 he founded the Paulson fund in New York, with a capital of two million dollars and only one employee.
He built his fame and fortune in 2007 when he won nearly 4 billion dollars using the CDS (credit default swap ) against mortgages. In that way from a dormant capital administrator he became a financial legend. According to latest Forbes data, its net assets amount to 13.5 billion dollars.
