SAVVIDIS-OPEN: According to reliable sources, the National Council for Radio and Television (ESR) is increasing pressure on the OPEN TV station, owned by Ivan Savvidis, through an investigation it has launched.
The investigation appears to focus, on the one hand, on the station’s outstanding debt for the television license it has been granted, as well as its failure (?) to comply with obligations regarding the minimum number of employees, which stem from the licensing regime.
However,… gossipmongers in Northern Greece interpret the NCRTV’s move in a more behind-the-scenes manner, speaking of a new attempt by the government to exert pressure.
The reason, however, according to our sources, is not solely related to the fact that OPEN is a fierce critic of the government.
In Thessaloniki, it’s practically an open secret that in the feud between Ivan Savvidis and Telis Mystakidis (which, as you may recall, also played out around PAOK), the government has clearly taken sides with the latter.
So, they say, it’s mobilizing every available tool to put Ivan under intense pressure and weaken him.
Both financially and… politically.
PASOK: Christos Kaklamanis is a rising star in PASOK, a member of its Central Committee, an advisor to the president—particularly on legal matters—and someone whose public statements are anything but “wooden.”
His latest statement, however, left the party leadership at Harilaou Trikoupi speechless, as he admitted that things are not easy for his party. “The goal of coming in first in the elections has become more difficult—let’s not kid ourselves,” he said in a television interview (on ERT).
And when a reporter pointed out, “But you set that goal,” he replied with striking candor: “We were saying that even before Mr. Tsipras appeared on the scene, and now we have this poll landscape.”
When asked—reasonably enough—whether the election target would be revised (downward), Mr. Kaklamanis referred the matter to the party leadership.
Implying that, yes, the target must change because “I don’t mince words—talking about first place when we’re the third-largest party…”
Mr. Kaklamanis’s admission (editor’s note: son of Apostolos, known for his equally “sharp-tongued” remarks whenever necessary) appears to have encouraged other party officials to act accordingly.
“I wouldn’t be convincing if I said that it isn’t difficult (to aim for first place), but it remains our goal,” said MP Nadia Giannakopoulou in turn.
She also took a jab at Harilaou Trikoupi: “We must read the polls very, very carefully; I’m the last person who would question the polls.”
The effort by party officials to keep Aeolus’s bag closed is obvious. But it won’t be easy if the polls scheduled for the coming days paint the same picture for PASOK.
All the more so if the picture is even worse.
SYRIZA: With the back-and-forth from the official Koumoundourou headquarters on the question of “will SYRIZA run in the elections or not?” (Editor’s note: right now we’re at the… “it will run” stage), it’s not just President Socrates who’s being exposed, but also the party’s MPs.
Shortly before and immediately after the founding of ELAS by Alexis Tsipras, about a dozen MPs declared they were ready to resign from their parliamentary seats to join the new party. Three of them even hinted that they would do so “within the next few days or even hours.”
ELAS has already been in existence for a month, but we haven’t seen any resignations. The main reason? They don’t know when the elections will be held. After all, it’s one thing to resign now and run for reelection (with the new party) in the fall, and quite another to do so and then be left… in limbo until spring or early next summer.
And as if this uncertainty weren’t enough, the heads of the Hellenic Police (ELAS) departments—or, as they’re also known, Alexis’s “shadow ministers”—have also been announced. You see, almost all of them will be candidates in the elections and are expected to “get the nomination” thanks to (among other things) the visibility they will have gained by then—plus the party’s support.
So the question, loosely translated, is: “Should we resign from Parliament before our term is up and forfeit any chance of re-election?”
It remains to be seen whether Tsipras will… soften his stance and not insist on the condition he has set: “resignation first, discussion later.”
SYRIZA II: Incidentally, the chaos reigning within the party following the majority faction’s about-face and the discussions about “collective leadership” justify the former prime minister’s decision to give them the boot and walk away.
Because, the way his former comrades are handling things, elections will be called first, and only then will they decide whether SYRIZA will run as an independent party and under which leadership.
SHIPPING-TURKEY: Thousands of shipowners, shipbrokers, bankers, insurers, lawyers, and representatives of shipping companies gathered in Istanbul for the seventh edition of the Bosphorus Shipbrokers’ Dinner, which is emerging as the premier event of Turkish Shipping Week and aims to become a formidable rival to the Posidonia exhibition in Piraeus—an event that has long been a landmark in the global shipping industry.
As is the case with Posidonia in Greece, the side events have taken on greater significance than the conference itself, with receptions, business meetings, and cruises on the Bosphorus attracting visitors from all over the world.
This momentum is also reflected in the numbers. According to Clarksons, the (significantly smaller) Turkish fleet has grown by 81% since 2020, compared to just 7% for the Greek fleet, while the market is attracting increasing amounts of financing from Chinese, Japanese, and even Greek banks—such as National Bank of Greece—which are filling part of the gap left by several Western European financial groups.
Next Maritime’s business partner, Nikos Marmatsouris, who has been active in the Turkish market for more than three decades, attributes this momentum primarily to the size of the domestic economy.
As he points out, Turkey is a large and self-sufficient market, a fact that allows it to sustain the growth of its shipping industry over time, while at the same time a new generation of executives, educated in the U.S. and the U.K., is steering the sector toward a more modern and internationalized path.
PANAGIOTIDIS: The MPC Storm Maritime Opportunities (MSO) investment fund made its second investment since its inception, acquiring the modern cargo ship Rio Hamburg (85,000 dwt, built in 2022) in collaboration with the Swiss dry bulk manager Suisse-Atlantique.
The vessel was sold in March by CSSC Hong Kong Shipping, a financial leasing subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding, for approximately $33.5 million, according to VesselsValue.
MSO is a joint venture between MPC Capital, owned by Petros Panagiotidis, and the Norwegian firm Storm Capital Management, led by investor Morten Astrup.
The fund raised $35 million upon its launch in February and aims to build a portfolio of modern secondhand vessels in the dry bulk, tanker, and container ship sectors.
The acquisition is being financed through a loan from a U.S. lender, and the vessel has already secured a 12- to 14-month time charter with a major European charterer.
MPC Capital, controlled by Petros Panagiotidis of Castor Maritime, aims to increase its assets under management to approximately $70 million through the new fund.
MITIS: The Mitsis Group has taken another step toward developing its new project in Ioannina. The Ioannina Building Authority has approved the building permit for the Mitsis Group’s new five-star hotel in the Paralimnio - Botanikos area, paving the way for an investment estimated to exceed 50 million euros.
The project involves a 300-room hotel, which will be developed on a 35,940-square-meter site with a total built area of 7,181 square meters. The new facility is part of the group’s strategy to develop high-end projects and establish a presence in other popular tourist destinations across the country.
TOURISM: Today is a big day for the new spatial planning framework for tourism, as the Spatial Planning Council is meeting today and, according to those in the know, clear guidelines are expected regarding the changes that will be incorporated into the final text…
The only certainty is that time is of the essence, since, according to the schedule, the relevant Joint Ministerial Decision was supposed to be published today; however, the changes that have taken place at the Ministry of Environment and Energy recently due to circumstances beyond its control have contributed to the delays.
Today, however, the draw takes place…
MOTOR OIL-AKTOR: With an EBITDA of 50 million euros, the enterprise value of the HELECTOR-Thalis joint venture ranges, according to analysts, between 400 and over 500 million euros, depending on how conservative or aggressive the valuation is.
As of December 31, 2025, the joint venture had approximately 600 million euros in uncompleted projects, covering both the construction of environmental infrastructure and the operation of modern treatment plants. As of December 31, 2025, the HELECTOR Group had 725 employees, and Thalis had 169 employees.
MOH controls 100% ELEKTOR and 92.11% of Thalis through Manetial Ltd (note: the remaining 7.88% of Thalis is controlled directly by MOH), whose share capital amounted to 178.8 million euros as of March 31, 2026.
Given that this is a holding company with no other operations, the entire €178.5 million was spent on acquiring 100% of HELECTOR (editor’s note: which cost approximately 124 to 125 million euros), 100% of Thalis (editor’s note: no purchase price was announced), and Thalis’s capital increase (editor’s note: 29 million euros) in November 2024.
Add to that the transaction costs.
AKTOR: The stock is holding at record levels, with the group confirming the information reported by this column earlier today and announcing a proposal to acquire 75% of its subsidiaries Motor Oil, Ilector, and Thalis.
The stock closed at 13.4 euros, up 0.15%, despite pressure midway through the trading session. It should be noted that gains since June 15 have reached 35.3%.
MOTOR OIL: The Vardinoyannis Group’s stock came very close to its all-time high (€40.66 on June 11) and is currently in discussions with Aktor regarding the FSRU project.
Yesterday, it rose 3.3% to close at 39.4 euros, with trading volume at 5.6 million.
In effect, of course, the stock has already hit a new record high, given that on Friday it declared a dividend of 1.4 euros per share.
PPA: The Port of Piraeus has returned to record levels for this year. The company recently saw container traffic pick up in May and hopes the trend will continue.
With trading volume of 462,000 euros, the stock rose 4.35% and now stands at 43.2 euros.
CENERGY: The downward trend, which began the day after the share placement at the Viohalco Group’s subsidiary, continues.
Yesterday, despite the generally bullish market sentiment, it lost 2.18%—the largest percentage drop among FTSE 25 stocks—and closed at 23.3 euros.
As a reminder, Viohalco sold the shares at 24.2 euros.