Greetings. As we said yesterday, do not expect dramatic news as we move towards the second month of summer. Still, in recent days – perhaps because there was not much else to talk about – a “new” election scenario has started doing the rounds.

After the earlier theory that Mitsotakis might call elections in September to get ahead of winter inflation, the pendulum has now swung the other way. The latest chatter is that K.M. will wait until April or later. Just as arguments were found for an autumn vote, arguments are now being produced for a government that runs its term almost to the end.

The first is that Mitsotakis presents himself as an institutional figure, and his voters like that. They see him as serious, reliable and without a credible rival on the question of who can govern. Then come the more elaborate theories: that as time passes, the opposition will expose more of its own incoherence; Tsipras’s people will start making loud promises about taxes; PASOK will sink deeper into internal wrangling, while Nikos Androulakis will refuse to move even if the polls show him at 7%; and Maria Karystianou’s support will slowly fade.

The conclusion, according to this scenario, is that in May Mitsotakis will pose the dilemma: “In a few days, in July, the Greek Presidency begins and all Europe will be looking to Greece. Do you want a government and a prime minister, or an election adventure and political instability?”

And if the political field has become clearer by then – which, to be honest, it already more or less has – voters will be asked to choose between Mitsotakis as prime minister or a return to the pre-2019 era, with Alexis Tsipras, the once-in-a-century leader, back at centre stage.

The blue pyjama movement

I wrote on Monday about the behind-the-scenes anger among several New Democracy MPs over the possibility that Maximos Mansion might allow sitting deputy regional governors to run in the national elections, since they can bring in votes.

Some MPs had various ideas, including the introduction of a legal incompatibility between the posts of deputy regional governor and MP – proposals that, in constitutional terms, were rather beside the point.

Livanios’s bill on the Local Government Code is being voted on tomorrow, and none of the would-be rebels – MPs from Pieria, Aetolia-Acarnania and elsewhere – stood up to say a word on the matter.

The whole episode recalls the famous “Pyjama Movement”, the attempted 1975 plot against democracy whose military participants were arrested by police while still in bed.

Tsipras

I watched Alexis Tsipras’s interview with Antonis Sroiter on Alpha, but I did not hear anything especially striking, at least on the economy, which is what concerns many people most.

If a government could hand out the entire surplus – especially Mitsotakis and Pierrakakis, who know that game very well – they would do so. Fortunately, there are also European fiscal rules.

As for Syriza, we have said this before: Tsipras has turned them into a political football, poor things. But where there is no dignity, perhaps they have only themselves to blame.

On corruption, meanwhile, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis hit back hard over Tsipras’s Penal Code. But such is life.

At the aperitif

Tsipras also spoke about Syriza figures during the interview, though in a careful way. I later heard that, over an aperitif at Alpha’s offices, he became more specific about who might – or might not – follow him into any new party.

In essence, he said he does not need to take any of the current MPs with him, except perhaps for a few he may personally select, depending on what the new party needs across the country. In other words, no one should assume their place is guaranteed.

As for Sokratis Famellos, Tsipras reportedly delivered the memorable line: “I will say this with love, without sentimentality.” You can imagine the rest.

At some point, the discussion turned to the yacht affair and to comments made on television by various party figures. Broadly speaking, Tsipras appeared willing to tolerate the mistakes of the “First Time Left” government, arguing that voters allow some leeway to new faces without much experience. If experienced figures from the old Syriza had said the same things, he suggested, matters would have been far more serious.

But let us not forget that this same tolerance of inexperience nearly took Greece out of the euro. Varoufakis was also new in 2015.

And inside Syriza

Meanwhile, Syriza-Progressive Alliance’s Political Secretariat met yesterday for almost five hours – in other words, until it was time for Tsipras’s Alpha interview to be broadcast. They were waiting to hear what the “natural leader” would say about their future, though one of my sources claims that “if they carry on like this, he may end up taking no one”.

The anxiety was so great that every television set at Syriza headquarters in Koumoundourou was tuned to Alexis. On the seventh floor, where party officials were meeting, Famellos was left almost alone defending the line of support for the Hellenic Police.

The Tsipras camp stayed silent. Nikos Pappas, Pavlos Polakis and Rena Dourou went on the attack, while the “Famellos camp”, led by Thanasis Theocharopoulos, kept its distance from the current party leader.

After listening to Tsipras, most Syriza figures headed to the former EAT-ESA detention site for an event organised by MEP Kostas Arvanitis, with Athens Mayor Haris Doukas also among the speakers. “We’re going to read the room,” they said meaningfully. What meaning any of this still has is another question.

Movement in television

Every so often, I check in with a reliable source in the television industry, both to understand what is going on and to keep you informed. He tells me that so far this year the advertising market is down by around 3%, while ad spending is up by 5%-6%.

“Do not expect hugely expensive drama series or blockbuster presenter transfers,” he said. “We have discussed all this before, and the main players have already reached an understanding. Those wild salaries of €20,000 or €30,000 for a single show are not coming back.”

It is clear that the free-to-air television model is losing ground and that platforms are gaining it. I suspect the shift will come faster than the current channel restructuring suggests.

Aktor: The €950 million and the second round from Monday

I would not bet that Alexandros Exarchou said everything at the emergency press conference he held about the €950 million being raised by the AKTOR group.

There appears to have been serious preparation behind the scenes. This is suggested by the heavyweight foreign investment banks involved, the underwriting agreement and, above all, the decision by the main shareholders to cover €300 million of the capital increase.

Market rumours suggest that this is only the first step in a process that could eventually bring two major US funds into the group. What is certain is that the story is not over. From Monday, expect a second round of surprises from Exarchou and Aktor.

Attica: Twice oversubscribed, with more to come

The public offering of Attica Department Stores is progressing well and, according to information, has already been oversubscribed twice.

The process ends today, with shares offered at a price range of €3 to €3.20 each, valuing the company at between €180 million and €193 million.

That valuation is considered attractive when set against the company’s financial performance, strong cash flows, position in the market and the credibility of its majority shareholder, IDEAL Holdings.

Mystakidis’s Thessaloniki headquarters and €1 billion in property

Telis Mystakidis does not give interviews, is rarely photographed and spends much of his time outside Greece. Yet the former Glencore “king of copper”, whose fortune Forbes estimates at around $3.5 billion, is steadily building a Thessaloniki portfolio spanning banking, real estate, hotels and, of course, basketball.

The focal point is Eleftherias Square. In the Roosevelt building, the 1926 neoclassical property once owned by the former Ionian Bank, overlooking the old seafront, the total investment reached €20 million. The upper floors now house the headquarters of his business interests.

The latest Thessaloniki talking point is on the lower floors. Clochard, one of the city’s most established fine-dining restaurants, has moved into the basement, ground floor and first floor, while in the summer it will also operate on the rooftop.

A few metres away is Aegean Baltic Bank, which Mystakidis has controlled since 2024 and which has opened its first Thessaloniki branch there. The total value of his real estate holdings in Greece is estimated at close to €1 billion.

His most emotional investment remains PAOK BC, which he acquired in November 2025. For the basketball club, he is building a new 8,000 sq.m. training centre in Pylaia, due to be completed in autumn 2026.

The scenarios and options for Athens Medical

From the opening bell in yesterday’s session, the Athens Medical share surged. From €1.78 it reached €2.19, having earlier hit €2.07, up 17.96%, with increased trading equivalent to a month’s activity. By the end, the enthusiasm had eased and the share closed at €1.96, up 11.68%.

Naturally, many scenarios immediately began circulating in the market. Some spoke openly of interest from a foreign fund, even of an imminent tender offer to delist from Euronext Athens.

The management of Athens Medical was forced by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission to respond to a related question, stating that the reports were untrue and had “absolutely no basis”. The Apostolopoulos family controls around 50% of the share capital. The specialist German group Asklepios holds 36%, while the free float is just 14%, below the legal threshold.

Management has two options: either a tender offer to delist, or a placement. According to information, management considers the current valuation “extremely low” for a placement.

The Finns are strengthening their presence in Athens – for satellite construction

ICEYE’s presence in Greece is only two years old, but the Finns appear to have ambitions beyond simply participating in the Greek microsatellite programme. As things stand, the company intends to further develop its production base in Athens, turning its facilities into a satellite manufacturing hub for European and international missions.

ICEYE has established a complete satellite production hub in Athens, with the aim of soon making it another European location where it builds satellites from scratch. The move comes a few weeks after a new €1 billion funding round that lifted the company’s valuation above €10 billion.

This is a particularly significant development for a company founded only in 2014 as a spin-off from Aalto University, and which today is one of Europe’s fastest-growing space technology companies, known mainly for the world’s largest private constellation of SAR, or Synthetic Aperture Radar, satellites.

The stock exchange is slow to “mature”

At 5 p.m. yesterday, a full day after the official announcement that DECA Investments had acquired 40% of Dotsoft through Diorama II, with Anastasios Manos remaining at the helm, the “shareholding structure” on the official website of the Athens Stock Exchange was still “informing” investors with data that defied basic arithmetic.

The shareholders’ percentages added up to almost 128%. The four pre-existing shareholders together held around 88%, as in the pre-acquisition shareholder register. On top of that, the new investor’s 40% had been added like a sticker, without anyone else’s percentage being reduced.

The corporate action was recorded. Shareholders were “informed”. For a market celebrating its upgrade to “developed” status, the picture is not attractive. The most basic piece of information – who owns what – was wrong one day after a landmark transaction.

On the Alternative Market, supervision is somewhat looser. Responsibility for the accuracy of the published data lies with the market operator itself.

OTE at an 18-year high – with €8 billion market capitalisation in sight

OTE is moving on a multi-year record trajectory, following a two-day rally. In Thursday’s session, the share rose by 1.6% and closed at €19.42. This price marks a new 18-year high, bringing the group one step closer to the €20 milestone, a level last seen in mid-May 2008.

Yesterday it recorded turnover of €13 million, or 670,000 shares, the highest after that of the systemic banks and PPC. The rally reflects the excellent sentiment around the group, which is completing the first half of 2026 with gains exceeding 15%.

At the same time, total market capitalisation is now approaching €8 billion. Investor confidence in OTE’s administrative and financial stability was also confirmed in financing. The organisation announced the issue of a new €100 million bond loan, with a one-year term, maturing in June 2027, and a competitive annual yield of 2.951%.

The fact that the loan was fully taken up by its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, underlines the German group’s continued strategic support and further strengthens OTE’s liquidity for covering its operational needs.

When Lavipharm will see the first benefits from Durogesic

Lavipharm’s management was revealing at yesterday’s general meeting of shareholders about the benefits it expects from the acquisition of the rights to Janssen’s, J&J’s, transdermal analgesic Durogesic in 24 countries, a transaction that adds around €40 million in annual sales.

According to CFO Vasilis Baloumis, because of Durogesic, Lavipharm is preparing to receive a huge volume of sales towards the end of 2026. Sales of the product in specific major international markets will begin in November, while by December Lavipharm will have a presence in all the high-commercial-interest markets selected by management.

Indeed, Lavipharm will begin producing Durogesic at its facilities in Paiania in order to build up stock several months before Janssen stops producing the transdermal medicine at its own plants.

Ekter: 26-year record fuelled by a €208 million backlog

Ekter is closing one project after another, something reflected on the stock market too. The company’s share is coming off a four-day rally, recording gains of 2.3% yesterday to close at €5.41.

This is a new 26-year high, as Ekter had not seen these prices since early March 2000. The sharp rise in the share is also reflected in its performance, with gains since the start of the year exceeding 43%, while the group’s market capitalisation is now approaching €150 million.

Buying interest is being directly fuelled by the steady flow of new projects, which shield the company’s future profitability. Ekter announced the signing of two new contracts worth more than €9.7 million in total, involving upgrade studies for Kalamata Airport and the construction of a special school in Chios.

With these additions, the company’s total outstanding project backlog now stands at €208.4 million.

The record of the defensive champion

A new all-time high for the Coca-Cola HBC share on the Athens board, at €55.6, up 1.09%, with market capitalisation approaching €20.8 billion.

Behind the record are the fundamentals that justify the valuation. Beyond last year’s good performance – earnings per share of €2.59, with a margin of 8.1% – over a three-year horizon, earnings per share are running at +23% annually and the share at +31%.

Shareholders are satisfied with the steady cash distributions. A dividend of €1.20 was paid on 9 June, while the general meeting of 8 May approved a share buyback programme.

The management recipe is defensive character with growth, and this is reflected in its forecasts: revenue growth of around +7% annually, double the sector’s +3.5%. In the first half, the share outperformed the FTSE All-Share by about 12%.

Buyers in Greece are twice as many as buyers of the same share traded in London. There, the average analyst target price slipped to £46.00 from £47.00, marginally below current levels. We will soon see who is right.

They are “looking” at Antiparos

It is no secret that Antiparos is one of the fastest-rising tourist destinations, attracting everyone from Hollywood stars to Obama. The island is clearly on the minds of the entrepreneurs who founded Everantiparos, a company based on Herodou Attikou Street in Athens.

Its corporate purpose includes many different activities, chiefly hotel accommodation and real estate purchases and sales. The initial share capital has been set at €235,000, divided into 235,000 company shares with a nominal value of €1 each.

These were paid as follows: Georgios Bitharas, son of Vasilis Bitharas, paid €74,025, or 31.5%; Athanasios Panourgias contributed €70,500, or 30%; Nikolaos Oikonomidis contributed €16,450, or 7%; while the remaining €74,025, or 31.5%, was covered by EverExcel Group of Companies S.A.

This is a holding structure established in 2023, whose management includes Nikolaos-Leon Papapolitis as chairman, Thomas Varvitsiotis as vice-chairman and Antonis Karakatsanis as CEO.

A holding structure by the Kaisaris family

Holding companies have become fashionable. Yesterday, the Kaisaris family, which controls the private school of the same name, proceeded with the establishment not of one, but of three such companies.

The first, under the name Dundee 68 M.A.E., has share capital of €6,524,070, fully paid up at incorporation. The share capital corresponds to €5,010.12 in cash and €6,519,059.88 in contributions in kind. The head of Kaisaris Schools, Ilias Kaisaris, contributed a total value of €6,524,070, corresponding to 217,469 shares, or 100% participation in the company. The first board of directors includes him as chairman and CEO, with Aikaterini Miliaresi and Andreas Kaisaris as members.

The second holding company, Blueholic 60 M.A.E., has share capital of €848,460, corresponding to €5,013.58 in cash and €843,446.42 in contributions in kind. Here, the capital was fully covered by Aikaterini Miliaresi, who also heads the company, while the board also includes Ilias Kaisaris and Polyxeni Kaisari.

The third company is Hermis 98 M.A.E., with share capital of €575,910, corresponding to €5,021.73 in cash and €570,888.27 in contributions in kind. The key figure here is Polyxeni Kaisari, who contributed a total value of €575,910, equal to 19,197 shares and 100% participation in the company. She heads the board, with Ilias Kaisaris and Aikaterini Miliaresi as members.

The story of Kaisaris Schools began in 1960, when Andreas Kaisaris envisioned a school that would maintain a personal relationship with students and their parents, a modern approach at the time, mostly seen abroad. With slow and steady steps, the schools managed to become one of the most important educational organisations. In 1995, they relocated to Vari, to a privately owned 50-stremma site, where they still cover all levels of education, from nursery school to senior high school.

What was discussed in the corridors of Euronext Athens about Greek shipowners

A phrase by Mathieu Caron, head of Primary Markets at Euronext, at last Monday’s event went almost unnoticed. When he said that listing on the US markets is “no longer the obvious choice”, he was essentially describing the new battle opening up over the financing of Greek shipping.

Behind the official smiles and the references to liquidity, groups and technology platforms, the message was clear. Euronext wants to bring part of the shipping finance that for decades has been directed to New York closer to Europe and, why not, to Athens.

Christos Megalou moved in the same direction, making sure to recall the role of Piraeus Bank in the first moves linking shipping with the Greek capital market. The reference to Safe Bulkers was interpreted by many as a reminder that this particular dual listing may not be the last.

Executives who attended the event said the real target is not simply more transactions on the Athens Stock Exchange. It is the creation of a new shipping finance hub within the Euronext network, with Athens claiming the role of a bridge between Greek shipowners and European investors.

Whether the venture will deliver remains to be seen. What is certain is that the discussion has already begun.

A message to Athens from Seanergy?

Of particular interest was the reference by Stamatis Tsantanis, chairman and CEO of Seanergy Maritime Holdings, to the connection between shipping and the capital markets, and to the new opportunities being created for investors.

The head of the Nasdaq-listed shipping company, speaking recently to newmoney.gr, did not limit himself to the international dimension of the market. He placed particular emphasis on the fact that the Greek private investor can now gain easier access to a sector in which Greece holds a leading global position.

The more alert market observers did not miss this rhetoric. It comes at a time when the discussion about reconnecting Greek shipping with the domestic capital market has heated up again, following the initiatives developing around the new Euronext Athens.

Is this merely a general statement in favour of investor participation in shipping, or a first sign that companies with an international stock market presence are looking more carefully at the Greek market too?

Still, when one of the most recognisable Greek CEOs on Wall Street talks about greater access for Greek investors to shipping, the market listens carefully. After all, the possible approach of shipping groups already listed in the US towards Euronext Athens is one of the scenarios being discussed more and more often in stock market and shipping circles.

Which Greek-owned shipping companies are racking up miles at the shipbrokers

International markets may be watching geopolitical developments with bated breath, but Greek shipowners are continuing their familiar game undeterred: buying, selling and ordering ships at a pace rarely seen in any other shipping power.

For those wondering who is currently leading activity in Asian shipyards, the answers come from this very week. Cape Shipping placed an order for two 181,000 dwt capesize bulk carriers at China’s Hengli Heavy Industries. Capital Maritime & Trading closed a deal for four plus two optional 82,000 dwt Kamsarmax bulkers at the same shipyard, while Sea World Management ordered three 50,000 dwt tankers at South Korea’s K Shipbuilding.

On the containership front, Euroseas continues to invest methodically, ordering two 1,800 teu container vessels at China’s Nantong CIMC SOE shipyard.

Over the past week, Greek signatures were particularly strong in the dry bulk and product tanker markets. In the bulker market, Greek interests acquired the Post-Panamax Cornelie Oldendorff, with a capacity of 93,246 dwt, built in 2011 at China’s Yangfan Group shipyards, for around $15.5 million.

In the same category, the Kamsarmax Mont Blanc Hawk, with a capacity of 81,638 dwt and built in 2017 by Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding, is also said to have passed into Greek hands for $32.8 million.

On the other side of the board, Greek sellers took advantage of demand and sold the Handysize Astro Propus, 38,271 dwt, built in 2014 by Imabari Shipbuilding, to Turkish interests, with the price reaching around $19 million.

There is also notable activity in tankers, where Greek groups acquired the LR1 Cape Tempest and Cape Taura, each with a capacity of around 74,000 dwt, built in 2008 and 2007 respectively at China’s New Times Shipbuilding. The total price exceeded $43 million, confirming that several Greek investors continue to see value in quality second-hand tankers.

Oil collapsed, fear remained

The price of US crude oil, WTI, soared from $57 at the start of the year to a peak of $113 in April, before recently falling back to around $76, following step by step the announcements about a temporary US-Iran peace agreement.

During the same period, however, Overnight Index Swaps on 25 June were pricing in around one and a half dollar interest-rate hikes by the end of the year. The new target is a rate of 3.75%, with the effective rate at 3.63%.

The shift was sealed on 17 June. The Fed kept the range at 3.50%-3.75% for the fourth time, but the scenario changed. The median forecast for the end of 2026 rose to 3.8% from 3.4% in March, while 17 of the 18 Fed officials see upside inflation risk.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index was revised to 3.6% for this year, with May inflation at 4.2%. The market reacted. The probability of an increase by December jumped towards 77%, from around 24% a month earlier. At the same time, the two-year US Treasury yield is touching 4.15%.

This whole picture is completely paradoxical. The opposing view, which argues for zero increases in dollar interest rates, rests on the expectation of supply normalisation, but also on a Fed moving away from excessive dependence on data.

Yet that is precisely the philosophy of the Fed’s new chairman. Kevin Warsh argues that inflation from supply shocks should be ignored, while artificial intelligence will have a disinflationary effect. He has already announced that he is abolishing the Fed’s publication of forecasts, or forward guidance, and did not submit his own forecast, preferring instead to set up five review groups.

In any case, no one in America today “sees” a reduction in the cost of money. Quite the opposite.

When bitcoin hands out strokes

Technical analysts swear this is a technical correction and not the end of the bull market. The fact is that bitcoin is trading these days below $60,000 – yesterday at $59,500 – recording a drop of 53% from its all-time high of $126,080 in October 2025.

It is at its lowest level since September 2024. The Fear & Greed Index is at 24, or Extreme Fear, with the monthly average at 19. In other words, fear is persistent and not a temporary shock.

This time, bitcoin’s fall is not due to problems in the cryptocurrency market. No exchange has collapsed, no stablecoin has de-pegged. This “correction” is due to institutional investors, the very people who drove last year’s unprecedented records.

There are massive redemptions from exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, while short-term strategies are being implemented. There is also a trend of portfolio reallocation in favour of artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks.

Interest rates remain expensive, the dollar is strong and markets are reducing investment risk in risk assets. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their sixth consecutive week of outflows, totalling $5.94 billion.

Leveraged funds, seeing the outflows, are facing $48.6 million in liquidations within 24 hours, 82.7% of them from long positions. These are mechanical sales that accelerate the decline.

In any case, bitcoin does not have fundamentals that allow for analyses of “fair valuation”. There are major institutional investors who are actively showing their faith in bitcoin, such as Strategy, which bought 520 BTC, and Strive, which added 759 BTC at $65,850.

Those buying believe they will sell at a higher price. Those selling fear the party is over. At least for now.