Hello, the calmness and governmental serenity of the past two months, with polls showing the government leading the opposition (PASOK, as there is essentially no other) by 10-12 points, were disrupted by large gatherings marking two years since the tragic Tempi train accident. Naturally, the entire opposition, which sees neither progress nor success after months and years, seized the opportunity to attack the government in any way possible—with statements, questions, interviews, etc. The issue of Tempi, unlike others, is one that cannot be addressed by those accountable in the same way they would respond to inflation, hospitals, or daily life issues. This is why it has caused concern at M.M.

The strategy…

To address the issue until the parliamentary debate on Tempi, scheduled for next week or perhaps the week after, there are not many strategies available. The government cannot expedite the trial, as, apart from a likely suggestion made to the judiciary, not much else can be done. As spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis stated, if the judiciary were to reject the roughly 300 requests from victims’ families for a special investigation into the accident, public opinion would suspect a cover-up. Furthermore, there is the pending report from the Polytechnic Institute, which aims to determine whether flammable materials in the train cars caused the explosions. Thus, the government’s only response is to emphasize that it has not interfered to cover up anything in the judiciary and has, on the contrary, legislatively supported (via Floridis’ amendments) the investigative judges’ efforts, even bypassing personal data protections to access victims’ phone records.

A silent wave of protest…

In reality, the Tempi case provides a powerful motive for a portion of the public to react, especially those who find no solace in opposition parties but, for various reasons, do not want to tolerate this government any longer after five years. However, this movement, collectively and visually, aligns with professional political actors (PAME of KKE, trade unions, etc.), all of whom “hide” behind the sacred right of anger, grief, and indignation of the families, relatives, and friends of the innocent victims. This is how politics works, and this happens not only in Greece. A similar scenario is unfolding in Serbia due to the deadly train accident at Novi Sad station, which claimed the lives of 15 students. In any case, Tempi is once again shaking the political landscape—how long this will last remains to be seen.

Technical teams

Although there were no public remarks regarding the issue of ecclesiastical property, K.M. was not caught off guard by Archbishop Ieronymos’ proposal for the government to take over church properties and create apartments for young couples and students. I’ve heard that the message reached M.M. in time, and the government’s intention is clear. From now on, government officials and Church representatives will take over, as technical teams need to be established to evaluate the properties and their prospects. I have a feeling this matter may end up on Akis Skertsos’ desk, while the Archbishop has a clear understanding of the properties involved.

The success story of HHG

Today, I will start with business news and a major success story that began during the country’s most challenging period, amid the debt crisis and the bailout memorandums. A medium-sized hospital in Faliro, Metropolitan, was purchased in 2017 for €55 million by the large American fund CVC during a time when foreign investors wouldn’t even come to Greece for vacations. Through painstaking and systematic efforts, a self-made manager and shareholder of the hospital, Dimitris Spyridis, envisioned creating a large medical group. With CVC’s funding and support, HHG was formed, which today owns, besides Metropolitan, Hygeia, Mitera, Leto, six more hospitals, and 16 diagnostic centers. Yesterday, Pure Health Holding, owned by Abu Dhabi interests, acquired 60% of HHG, valuing the entire Greek company at $2.3 billion. The current management will remain in place, aiming for further development, especially outside Greece, in Europe and beyond. This success story is, of course, not only the creator’s but also CVC’s, directed here by another Greek, Alex Fotakidis, as this may be one of the American fund’s most successful investments. Naturally, this entire story sends a strong message to major foreign investors to consider Greece.

The sudden love for Piraeus Bank

Four consecutive analyst reports from as many brokerage firms rank Piraeus Bank as a top pick, projecting its share price to exceed €5. Specifically, Eurobank Equities, Alpha Bank, BETA Securities, and Pantelakis forecast higher share prices, highlighting that Piraeus has a P/BV ratio of 0.70, a market capitalization of €5.4 billion, and equity of €7.2 billion. Earlier reports from Citi and AXIA were even more optimistic, projecting prices above €6, even up to €7.25 (HSBC). Analysts are looking at Piraeus Bank’s fundamentals and making their predictions. DARK ROOM, however, takes a different approach, aiming to uncover “the other side of the hill,” focusing on intentions and plans the bank does not disclose to analysts. In this context, the column presents its findings below—draw your own conclusions.

What is H. Megalou preparing?

1. In recent days, H. Megalou has been spending more time with his friend and close associate Stefanos Papapanagiotou of UBS than with the rest of the management team. Meetings are ongoing, even on holidays, which suggests a plan is maturing. There are rumors in the market about an imminent acquisition being prepared by Piraeus Bank, but I cannot confirm this. 2. Additionally, a project involving the bank’s real estate has been in the works for some time. This would be the third consecutive real estate transaction after the ones with Brooklane and Resolute. Discussions and preparations have been ongoing for a while. Real estate is a focus area for the SSM, which is putting pressure on all banks, particularly Piraeus. The matter has also been discussed in the bank’s Board of Directors, and market sources suggest that a group of companies, including Dimand, might undertake this new project. 3. H. Megalou has been exploring potential acquisitions in asset management. According to sources, proposals are being made in various directions, not limited to major players like Vezanis, Tambakakis, and Morianos. 4. Meanwhile, Piraeus Bank’s management aims to execute the placement of Attica Group shares this year (a plan that did not materialize in 2024) and is awaiting the green light from its advisor. 5. Finally, there is a capital increase in the works for Trastor, expected around March, with the price set at €1.20 per share, according to insider sources, aiming to achieve the required stock dispersion.

New Match: Mr. Pantelis Vs. Yiannis Stournaras

I’m not sure if Finance Minister K. Hatzidakis’s hesitation to promote a compromise between the state and Pantelis Mantonanakis (offering around €700 million for a hotel) has frustrated the prominent hotelier, but Mr. Pantelis seems to have lost his patience. He has targeted the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Yiannis Stournaras, and, along with his companies, has appealed to the Council of State seeking annulment of the silent rejection by the Bank of Greece of their request submitted on 6/9/2023. According to Mr. Pantelis, the request concerned the Governor’s failure to exercise supervisory powers over bondholder creditors who are allegedly abusively proceeding with enforcement measures against the tourism complexes of Helios S.A. The Council of State has scheduled a hearing for March 11, 2025, to discuss the annulment request. Note that this is reportedly the third similar annulment request with identical or related content currently pending.

How Konstantinos Argyros made €3 million

And since we’ve weighed things down with business, deals, and legal proceedings, let’s change gears—literally—and move to the popular music scene, specifically Konstantinos Argyros. What can we say about this hardworking individual? The famous Argyros has left behind excuses and entered the business world. On Monday, January 27, a new company, URBS Investments Holding, was established, headquartered in P. Ioakeim in Kolonaki, with an initial share capital of €800,000. As the name suggests, the company’s purpose involves “holding company activities” and transactions in securities and goods. The €800,000 was contributed in cash by the company “Argy Productions P.C.” What is this company? It represents the interests of Konstantinos Argyros. And because he’s always ahead, this company was established back in 2013 with objectives that include providing singer services, artistic literary creation and performance, theatrical and other public performances, auxiliary event services (stage design, lighting, sound, etc.), exploitation and management of intellectual property, organization of entertainment and cultural events, etc. Later, objectives such as the acquisition, management, and exploitation of real estate and the development of any investment activity in Greece or abroad were added. Konstantinos Argyros holds 95% of “Argy Productions P.C.,” while his brother Pavlos Argyros, who also manages this company and the newly established holding, holds 5%. Judging by the performance of “Argy Productions P.C.,” Argyros is doing exceptionally well. For the financial year from 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2024, the company’s turnover reached €4,033,411, compared to €2,552,026 in 2023. Pre-tax profits amounted to €3,823,714 (up from €2,549,921 in 2023), and net profits after taxes were €2,980,165, compared to €2,007,151 the previous year. In short, the popular singer pocketed nearly €3 million solely from his primary activity. Successful, famous, and smart—what more can you say?

Which College? Leonteios in OTE and Vodafone

There was a leadership change at Vodafone Greece, with Haris Broumidis handing over his position to Achilleas Kanaris, who has been CEO of Vodafone Romania since July 2021 and previously served as CEO of Vodafone Albania. Kanaris will take over as head of the Greek subsidiary of the telecommunications group on April 1, 2025. Before all this, Katerina Stathaki, who had taken Kanaris’s place as head of Vodafone Albania, stepped down from Vodafone after 23 years. Coincidentally, the new CEO of Vodafone Greece is a graduate of Leonteios School, as is the new head of OTE, Kostas Nebis (Class of 1991), who worked for many years at Vodafone Greece and is close in age to Kanaris. From his previous role, Kanaris was involved, among other things, in the agreement for Vodafone Romania and Digi to acquire Telekom Romania Mobile (TKRM), a subsidiary of OTE in Romania, which is expected to be finalized soon. Speaking of telecoms, Timotheus Höttges will remain at the helm of Telekom, OTE’s parent company, until the end of 2028. He recently visited Greece and met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. It’s worth mentioning that Haris Broumidis successfully led Vodafone Greece, credited with transforming the company into a tech group, launching Vodafone TV, and achieving strong results with Vodafone Business. Also notable is that he was the second-longest-serving CEO of Vodafone Greece, having taken on the role in April 2016—a significant achievement for anyone familiar with the dynamics of multinationals.

Theodoros Skylakakis in Saudi Arabia for Business

It had to start somewhere! A lightning trip to Saudi Arabia is being carried out today by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Theodoros Skylakakis, broadening the communication bridges between Riyadh and the Greek government. The minister is revisiting the Arabian Peninsula to specialize in the cooperation framework set by the leaders of the two countries. At the center of interest is the collaboration between ADMIE and the National Grid company for the development of an electric cable with a total length exceeding 2,000 km, for which relevant feasibility studies have already been commissioned and are expected to be completed by the summer of 2025. Also on the agenda of the talks are telecommunications and the EMC data transfer cable, in which Saudi Telecom holds 72%, being the country’s main telecommunications provider, PPC holds 25%, and another Greece-based company, TTSA, will acquire 3%. There is also strong interest in the field of renewable energy sources and hydrogen. As Theodoros Skylakakis mentioned yesterday in a casual discussion with journalists, the development of renewable energy sources in Saudi Arabia is immense, making Greece appear as a dwarf in comparison.

Meloni is Coming to Athens

After visiting frozen Washington to attend Trump’s inauguration from an honorary seat, and descending to the desert of Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia to sign a $10 billion strategic agreement with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is planning her next trip to Athens. According to sources, Meloni’s official visit to Athens is scheduled for February 17. The last time she visited the Greek capital was at the end of the summer of 2023, and since then, several joint political and economic initiatives have been planned with the Greek Prime Minister. Italy is the first market for Greek exports and the third-largest supplier to Greece. There is investment interest from Italian companies in Greece, with companies like Eni, Enel Green Power, Fincantieri, Snam, and Italgas, which has scheduled an investment program worth €900 million until 2029 for the development of the natural gas distribution network.

The ASE Showed Resilience and Didn’t Succumb to the AI Virus

Wall Street sneezed, Europe caught a cold, and Athens chose a warm, local jog. The Banking Index, which has delivered a +12% return since the beginning of the year, faced a selling attack worth €20 million at the start of the session, fell as much as -1.63%, but eventually closed with marginal gains of +0.08% at 1,419.48 points, aided by Alpha Bank (+2.47%) and Piraeus (+0.95%). The large-cap FTSE index closed with losses of -0.2%, while the mid-cap index fell by -0.32%. All these movements led the General Index to 1,539.88 points (-0.28%) with low transaction value at €114.13 million. All this happened while on Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was retreating sharply, and major European markets remained consistently “in the red.”

Is DeepSeek the Cause or the Excuse? (Well, What Do You Think?)

As we mentioned yesterday, on Christmas Day, a new Chinese-origin computational model appeared suddenly in the Artificial Intelligence market, overturning overnight everything we knew about AI. DeepSeek, the Chinese competitor to ChatGPT and OpenAI, boasts greater computational accuracy and was developed in a small lab with 200 employees, with training costs amounting to only $6 million, while OpenAI employs 4,500 people and raised $6 billion in its last funding round alone. DeepSeek has officially become the No. 1 app in the App Store in both the U.S. and China, while a month ago, it wasn’t even in the top 100 apps. Naturally, DeepSeek’s emergence caused a collapse in the “magnificent seven” tech stocks that had dominated Wall Street until now. Since Monday morning, Nasdaq 100 futures had fallen by as much as -1,000 points, Nvidia’s stock lost approximately $400 billion in market capitalization, and the dance of scenarios and “information” began. The question is whether the “sudden” appearance of DeepSeek is the cause or merely an excuse for the rationalization of valuations of high-tech companies on Wall Street. The Chinese intervention has cast doubt over the market: Can AI models evolve with much less funding than what Silicon Valley companies spend? At some point yesterday afternoon (morning New York time), reports surfaced that DeepSeek had restricted registration to its services, allowing ONLY users with a mainland China mobile phone number to sign up. It’s certain that this story will have an exciting continuation.