Hello there. Now, you’ll say… “you’re like a broken record, you’ve been saying the same things will happen this winter.” What can I do? I’ll say it again: the best is yet to come. And it all started yesterday with Alexis Tsipras announcing his departure from SYRIZA, heading “for new seas,” as he put it — which, translated, means a new party. Or something like that, since lately I’ve been hearing talk of an “electoral alliance of personalities,” Macron-style, though I’m not entirely convinced. I tried teasing my first-class source in the political world by saying “does this ‘new seas’ line hint at…?” But they laughed and replied, “Stop the provocations. Alexis is addressing his old comrades — we’ve been through this. We’re not joining forces with businessmen; no offense, but we’ll keep our independence.”

Reactions…

Let’s be honest: our leader, the great helmsman Alexis, never goes unnoticed. I’m probably the only one who didn’t issue a statement to attack him. Of course, New Democracy did, PASOK did — and its various warlords individually — as did all the former comrades, who accuse him of causing a split. As if the original “First Time Left” (SYRIZA) hadn’t already fragmented into ten pieces — it’s Tsipras making one more that bothers them. The only one who remained gracious (by nature, anyway) was also the most directly affected: Sokratis Famellos, whose party Tsipras just left. He almost apologized to Tsipras — the man who left SYRIZA!

The sauerkraut and the oracle of a new party

Let me remind you that last week Tsipras, still as an MP, participated in the work of the Council of Europe. The mixed parliamentary delegation posted a “family photo” from a dinner held at the ambassador’s residence. In the picture, the former PM was surrounded by Dora Bakoyannis, Theodoros Roussopoulos, George Papandreou, Evripidis Stylianidis, Yiannis Oikonomou, Dimitris Markopoulos, Giorgos Stamatis, Dimitris Mantzos and Nefeli Chatziioannidou. I asked some of those present whether — between the tarte aux oignons (onion tart), choucroute garnie (sauerkraut with cured meats), and fine, fruity Alsatian Gewürztraminer — he confided anything about his intentions. The answer was no. They did say, however, that he seemed generally disenchanted with SYRIZA. But they passed on one comment of his that I found revealing. When asked whether he plans to found a party, he said: “A former prime minister starts a party only to become prime minister again.”

Why now…

Readers ask why he rushed to leave now — does it mean the party launch is coming earlier than the new year? The answer I got was: “He didn’t want to attend Parliament’s opening blessing ceremony as a SYRIZA MP.” Personally, I believe he also wants to be “set up” early, because founding a new party — especially on the Left — is no easy task. (Not that the Right is overflowing with talent either…)

The reservoirs…

Several opinion polls are currently measuring the potential impact of new parties in formation. In Tsipras’s case, one recent poll found that over 19% of respondents were either certain or inclined to vote for him (8% were solid). Where would Tsipras’s support come from? Roughly, two-thirds of SYRIZA’s 2024 European election voters, 40% of the New Left voters, 19+% from Plefsi Eleftherias (Course of Freedom), 13% from KKE (Communist Party) and almost 10% from PASOK. Of course, polls are one thing, ballot boxes another…

The people of Amalias Street…

Tsipras is said to be conducting a thorough screening of potential figures to join his new party. He’s reportedly not eager to rely on current SYRIZA MPs as a base. Later on, when it’s time to compile electoral lists, he will likely include some — under conditions. At his offices on Amalias Avenue, a core team of close associates is in constant contact with him. They include: Michalis Kalogirou (longtime director), Vangelis Kalpadakis (splits his time between Athens and Vienna), Giorgos Chouliarakis and Dimitris Liakos (economic team), Giorgos Vasiliadis (in charge of scouting people).

What Maximos Mansion is saying

“This is an opportunity for people to remember who Tsipras is, but for us, he’s not the benchmark,” a source from the Maximos Mansion (Prime Minister’s Office) told me about Tsipras’s new venture. Government spokesperson Marinakis reportedly made a jab at Tsipras’s “new seas” phrase, saying “last time, we needed life vests” — but that’s not their official strategy. Obviously, Maximos isn’t going to pretend he doesn’t exist. They’ll keep reminding voters of his record. But based on their research, they believe they shouldn’t revive the Mitsotakis–Tsipras two-party dynamic — that was settled for many voters in the 2023 elections, apart from perhaps ND’s hardcore base.

Meeting on special spatial planning

Meanwhile, meetings upon meetings are held daily at Maximos on various central issues. Following yesterday’s meeting on water — focusing on urgent interventions needed to prevent Attica from running out in 1.5 years — today’s discussion will concern special spatial plans. Participants include K.M., Hatzidakis, Papastavrou-Tagaras from the Environment Ministry. The goal is to finalize special spatial plans for renewable energy and tourism by year’s end, though significant pending issues remain for industry, mineral resources, aquaculture, and more.

The Saudi Arabian Minister’s Visits and Meetings

Since yesterday, the Saudi Arabian Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, has been in Greece. He met with Theodorikakos and Papastavrou, while the Minister of Development took him in the afternoon to the Elefsina Shipyards, as Greece is interested in bringing the Saudis into the equation and securing orders for the shipyard. Particularly noteworthy is the breakfast that Theodorikakos is organizing for him today with representatives of the largest Greek companies from the industrial, energy, construction, and other sectors. The Saudi minister controls several hundred billion, so it’s best not to miss these kinds of opportunities…

Petralias’s “Glass”

Yesterday, after the conclusion of the statements regarding the submission of the draft Budget, Pierr (likely referring to the Finance Minister) smilingly said in a small informal press chat about Petralias:
“Some see the glass half full, some half empty. Thanos sees it twice as big,” acknowledging the role of the Deputy Minister, who shapes the final form of economic policy. Let’s not forget, after all, that Pierrakakis and Petralias are the “architects” both of the rent rebate announced at Easter and to be implemented in November, and of the Thessaloniki International Fair measures aimed at supporting the middle class and addressing the demographic issue.

Negotiations for Two Organic Product Companies

Leaving aside the concerns the French situation is causing in the markets, let’s turn to the microcosm of the Greek market, starting with the increased activity surrounding organic product companies. According to market sources, two separate negotiation cases are underway involving two different funds. Neither deal is guaranteed to close, though the one that seems more advanced is Bioagros’s talks with Halcyon Capital, currently at the due diligence stage — which means nothing is finalized yet.
On a related note about food, I hear it’s only a matter of days before the acquisition of Kritikos by Masoutis is formally concluded.

Euronext’s Plan for the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX)

Interesting details emerge from the information memorandum regarding Euronext’s public offer for the Athens Stock Exchange. The memorandum has been published, and any investor visiting Euronext’s website section dedicated to the public offer will experience a kind of “cultural shock” at how direct and clear the information is: it lays out the key facts shareholders need to know, provides step-by-step acceptance instructions, an FAQ section, and more. Now to the essence: Euronext’s plan for the Athens Exchange is to integrate it into its platform and turn it into a hub for company listings from the broader Southeastern European region, under the name “Euronext Athens.” A key role is played by its technological infrastructure — specifically, Euronext’s unified trading, clearing, and post-trading platform — which is planned to be incorporated into the Greek exchange. Euronext expects to achieve annual cash synergies (run rate) of €12 million by the end of 2028, mainly through migrating the Greek trading market to the Optiq platform and harmonizing core functions. The transition of ATHEX’s systems to the unified platform is planned for 2027. Additionally: The CEO of ATHEX will be proposed as a member of the Board of Directors of Euronext N.V. An independent representative of the Greek financial ecosystem will be proposed to join the Euronext Supervisory Board at the 2026 Annual General Meeting. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission will remain the main supervisory authority for Greek markets and will be invited to join Euronext’s College of Supervisors, participating in the overall supervision of the Euronext Group.

Key Points of the Public Offer

The acceptance period will last six weeks, until November 17. The exchange ratio is twenty ATHEX shares for one Euronext share. Based on the timetable, and provided there are no changes, the new shares to be issued (the exchange shares) will start trading on Euronext markets on November 24. The total number of exchange shares issued will depend on how many ATHEX shares are finally tendered in the public offer or, if applicable, acquired through the squeeze-out and sell-out rights should the process reach that stage. The information memorandum states that G. Chatzinikolaou and G. Kontopoulos have committed to tender their shares (15,000 and 95,000 respectively). Formally, the offer will be valid if shareholders holding at least 38.76 million shares, or 67% of ATHEX’s total shares, accept it. However, Euronext can consider the offer successful even with 33%, since it has the right, e.g., five days before the end of the offer, to lower the required threshold. An important factor in the public offer is that as of the end of June, ATHEX itself held 2.5 million treasury shares, corresponding to 4.14% of its share capital. Deutsche Bank is acting as Euronext’s advisor, and Eurobank is the offer’s manager.

In the banking brokerages…they’ve seen it all

The above concerns are essentially about the public offer but refer to the official framework for how Euronext will proceed. What is more interesting, however, is what is happening behind the scenes, with the Dark Room offering mental support especially to the staff of the banking brokerage firms… who have seen it all. What preparations they are making, what methods they are inventing so that their clients can easily open foreign accounts in order to receive the Euronext shares, what informational and other types of emails they are sending, etc. etc. In the banking mutual fund management companies (AEDAK), I imagine there will not be similar mobilization, as only one decision is needed, but the pressure there is also strongly felt. From the side of those who support Euronext’s move, the estimates regarding the outcome of the offer are that it is not considered a done deal, but if the bar is lowered to 51%, it has good chances. On the opposite side, the… unruly ones disagree due to the large participation of private investors in the Hellenic Exchanges (ATHEX) shareholding structure, and argue that the offer will struggle to gather 50%. Who is right will be revealed on November 17 (note: what a day they picked, too!).

The two shipowners who support the Chinese shipyards

Despite Washington’s intense pressure to impose duties on Chinese-built ships docking at American ports, China continues to hold the lead. More than 50% of new global ship orders are directed to Chinese shipyards. This percentage soared during the summer months of 2025: 65% in June and 84% in August. Despite US–China tensions, China’s shipbuilding industry is being supported by new orders from major shipowners, such as George Procopiou and the Norwegian John Fredriksen. G.P.’s Dynacom owns the largest tanker fleet on order in the world, with 55 tankers under construction. If the orders from other companies in the group — bulkers and gas carriers — are added, the total number of ships under construction reaches 83.

The (double) vote of the chairman

And since the subject came up, let me add that G. Procopiou leaves nothing to chance. This is also confirmed by a very recent amendment to the Articles of Association of “Astir Palace M.A.X.E.”, which owns the Astir Vouliagmeni complex. It should be noted that this complex passed into the hands of G. Procopiou at the beginning of the year, with him taking over as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Last week, the amendment of Article 25 of Astir Palace’s Articles of Association was uploaded to the General Commercial Registry (G.E.MI.). This article sets out the provisions regarding member representation, quorum, and majority for the operation of the Board of Directors. According to the Articles of Association, “the company is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of 3 to 15 directors,” while currently the members are 5: G. Procopiou (Chairman), D. Lampropoulos (Vice Chairman), H. Pavlou (CEO), P. Kassi­dokostas–Latsis (Member), and K. Mitsios (Member). Article 25, which regulates issues of majority, previously provided that “the decisions of the Board of Directors are validly taken by an absolute majority of the directors who are present and those represented.” With the said amendment, however, it was added that “in the event of a tie, the Chairman’s vote prevails.” It is self-evident that the opinion of the owner and Chairman carries decisive weight, but in this case, this “advantage” was also enshrined in the Articles of Association.

Greece at the critical IMF Summit

The submission of the 2026 Draft Budget will be the strong card of the Greek government delegation, which, a week from today, will travel to Washington for the IMF and World Bank Annual Fall Meetings. Strong growth rates, fiscal discipline, a spectacular reduction of Public Debt, and reforms will be the key arguments of Finance Minister K. Pierrakakis, Michalis Argyrou (head of the Prime Minister’s Economic Office), and Dimitris Tsakonas of the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA). At a time when Sovereign Debts have skyrocketed to record levels and two-thirds of the discussions in Washington concern their management, the Greek side will be a useful, positive example. The Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable has announced it will publish a “playbook” for more predictable and faster sovereign debt restructuring procedures, combined with institutional reforms on the role of international financial institutions in supporting countries’ recovery. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva will deliver her key speech on October 8 at the Milken Institute, while the official Plenary Session will be held on October 17.

The stockbroker with the blue Porsche who gives advice via TikTok

Times have changed. The Stock Exchange is no longer a taboo. Social media have firmly entered our lives. This is exactly what Mr. Socrates Ch. of Platon seems to believe, who travels with his blue Porsche between Monaco and Luxembourg, and incidentally also gives investment advice. With humor, ease, and confidence, he declares on TikTok which stocks will perform well, what are “the games of the market” at the moment, and he shares — for free, of course — his knowledge with the audience that follows him. In his most recent analysis, he mentioned “the surprise of ELTON Chemicals” as a “hidden card,” which, however, did not work out for him yesterday — just like ONYX — but there is always time for improvement.

Drop with low turnover and a pretext from France

It didn’t have the strength to reach higher levels, it didn’t have the mood for a major correction, but it found a “golden pretext” in the developments of French political life, which certainly affect the entire Eurozone, to stop and take a breather. The positive start of the General Index lasted only 10 minutes; it didn’t continue, since the European Stock Exchanges started “in the red” as soon as the resignation of the French prime minister was announced. But when the European markets limited their losses, Athens continued downwards, mainly because it didn’t feel like putting up any resistance. The General Index started at 2,082.37 points (+0.30%) and then dropped to 2,049.59 points (–1.31%). It ended the session at 2,053.08 points (–1.14%). The value of transactions remained at €188.2 million, of which €22.08 million were in blocks, because most transactions took place in “heavyweight” stocks. Worth noting is the move by Coca Cola HBC (+0.52% at €38.5), which after a long time contributed positively to the General Index with trades worth €4.45 million. With transactions worth €28.9 million, Piraeus fell to €7.26 (–2.76%) after the announcement of a €600 million AT1 bond issue, convertible into shares. National Bank (–1.25% at €13.07), Alpha (–1.33% at €3.70), and Eurobank (–0.97% at €3.482) reflect the climate of yesterday’s session, affecting the rest of the banking stocks as well. Intralot (€1.178, –4.23%), after the success of its public offering, rushed to meet the capital increase price (€1.11).

The autonomous course of Viohalco’s shares

The shares of the Viohalco Group kept their distance from the nervousness and the generally poor picture presented yesterday by the Greek stock market. With the majority of stocks “in the red,” Viohalco, ElvalHalcor, and Cenergy Holdings were bright exceptions, continuing their trajectory at levels of historic or multi-year highs. VIO took a decisive step toward conquering €8 for the first time, with its capitalization now exceeding €2 billion. Over the last three days, it has “run” a rally of 7.1%, and this year it has strengthened by 46.5%. A buying party took place in ELHA, which was the blue chip with the strongest rise. With a 4.4% jump, it closed at €3.06, reaching €3.08 at the day’s highs. This is the best close in more than 17 years, specifically since early January 2008. CENER followed with a smaller rise, but it was enough not only to renew its all-time high but also to reach the peak of €13. Over the last five days, it has seen only positive signs, posting cumulative gains of around 8.65%. Its market capitalization stands at €2.77 billion, trailing Titan (€2.86 billion) and Motor Oil (€2.88 billion).

The shipowners renovate

After many years, the Union of Greek Shipowners is proceeding with a substantial renovation of its privately owned offices in Piraeus. Works are underway for a complete refurbishment, with the goal of being ready before the celebration of world shipping — Posidonia — next June. The modernization of the offices includes everything from infrastructure and energy upgrades to the creation of modern, technologically updated workspaces. Until the works are completed, the UGS has moved its services to other offices on Akti Miaouli.

Geneva calling

In the glamorous Bâtiment des Forces Motrices hall in Geneva, Kriton Lentoudis of Evalend Shipping was honored as “Shipowner of the Year.” Upon receiving his award, he called on the Greek shipping community to stand “on par with other maritime centers” and to more actively support the work of Mercy Ships — the hospital ships that provide surgical care in poor African countries.

Every AI deal sends stocks soaring

Late the night before last, New York time, it was announced that OpenAI — the company that brought ChatGPT into our lives — will acquire 10% of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and will develop up to 6 GW of AMD Instinct graphics processors, starting with 1 GigaWatt in 2026. To get a sense of the scale, 1 GigaWatt is enough to power hundreds of thousands of advanced computers simultaneously. This infrastructure is necessary for training the next generations of artificial intelligence. Immediately after the announcement, AMD’s share price skyrocketed by +25%, from $165 to $207.35 in a single session. OpenAI will participate as an early design partner in the development of AMD’s next GPU, the MI450. This move breaks Nvidia’s monopoly in the AI processor market. Nvidia had dominated with over 90% market share in AI chips, but AMD — now supported by OpenAI — becomes a serious competitor. The war has just begun.

Hydrogen is changing the construction sector in Britain

It is the first attempt. It didn’t take place in a scientific laboratory, but on a real construction site. And it changes all the cost parameters. A huge excavator, a JCB machine, will run not on diesel but on hydrogen. It has already started work at the Lower Thames Crossing — a £10 billion project connecting Kent with Essex. It marks a silent revolution in the construction sector. The excavator is already saving 1.1 tons of CO₂ per month. In Britain, plans are already being developed to completely eliminate oil from construction sites by 2027. The construction industry represents 39% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, with heavy vehicles and machinery consuming vast amounts of diesel. The Lower Thames Crossing serves as a testing ground for a new, “green” way of building: low-emission steel, improved concrete methods, and the largest supply of green hydrogen ever made in the UK. Experience so far shows that hydrogen can indeed power heavy equipment under real-world conditions. If the model succeeds, Europe will have a real blueprint for how to build infrastructure without burning its future.