HATZIMINAS: In the Greek defense industry there had long been entrepreneurs with particular demands from the state, even though they had not proceeded with corresponding investments while also undertaking the corresponding risk.
From this side, the intervention of Christian Hatziminas during the events of the 90th TIF and specifically at the conference of Oikonomikos Tachydromos was of particular interest, as he said bluntly that first entrepreneurs must invest, innovate and take risks -and then seek contracts.
In his case, it is difficult for someone to say “easy to say”.
The founder and main shareholder of THEON and EFA Group has nearly three decades in the field behind him, a period during which he managed to create one of the most outward-looking Greek industrial ventures in high technology.
In brief, THEON posted turnover of 443.4 million euros last year, with sales in Greece accounting for just 0.06% of the total, while in the first half of 2026 it increased revenues by 35.4%, to 248.7 million.
In short, this is an entrepreneur who learned to sell abroad and not wait for when some Greek procurement might “come up”.
Equally important is his remark about the famous 25% Greek participation in defense procurements. He does describe it as a “transformational change”, because for the first time the State can require in advance specific Greek added value.
But with one critical condition. Along with the project, its “keys” must remain here as well. It is one thing to get a share of a job, and another to acquire know-how, production capability and the ability to develop a system.
The latter is far more important for the course of the Greek defense industry, in the long run, than the mere “25%”.
HATZIMINAS II: Also interesting -and quite pointed- was his intervention on the notorious “shell companies” in defense.
He directly recalled what used to happen in Greek procurements, saying “a procurement was taking place and we had to give everywhere”, a system that he himself described as… “wrong socialism”.
According to Mr. Hatziminas, that era has now passed. However, as he noted, today a “shell” can also be a small foreign company that does not offer substantial added value. And here lies perhaps the most useful pointed remark of his intervention.
It is not enough to baptize every foreign presence in the Greek defense industry an “investment”. Nor for Greek participation to appear in an Excel sheet and for us to consider that the problem has been solved. The question is what remains in the country.
Does know-how remain? Do engineers, production capabilities and support rights remain? Can we tomorrow maintain and develop a critical system even if relations between states or companies change?
Or did we simply buy something that continues to depend on someone else’s “keys”?
This is exactly what Hatziminas raised, pointing out that foreign investments are welcome, provided that the know-how and activity they create cannot tomorrow leave for abroad.
He also added something rather unusual for an entrepreneur. That Greece does not generally need lower taxes, but “surgical” incentives for investments, advanced equipment and human resources.
His conclusion sounds very correct. As he said, there may be a tailwind for the Greek defense industry, but “the hull must be built by us entrepreneurs”.
PASOK: The transfers from the old SYRIZA that the official opposition is announcing in installments are in essence returns, since they concern current/former MPs or officials who had abandoned PASOK in the first memorandum years and had enlisted under the then-rising Alexis Tsipras.
To the question “why are we returning” the answer is obvious: SYRIZA will struggle to enter Parliament or Tsipras does not want us in his ELAS or what happened in Koumoundourou after the crushing defeat of 2023 is frightening and does not constitute democratic intra-party procedures.
But there is also another answer from returnees who experienced the havoc of SYRIZA’s electoral crushing defeat, the election/ousting of Kasselakis and the disintegrative, as they say, leadership of Famellos:
“If things do not go well for ELAS and Tsipras resigns, the next day there will be no ELAS. If things do not go well for PASOK and Androulakis resigns, the next day there will be PASOK”.
No dictionary is needed for the translation: The need to find… a party pew for the good and the bad days outweighs any other question mark about the return to the ancestral “green” lands.
Keep this in mind also for some …original Syriza members who are left hanging between their party (which does not want them), Tsipras (who does not want them) and PASOK, which is sounding them out…
P.S.: For the record, yesterday’s returns to PASOK announced by Nikos Androulakis were former MPs Olympia Teligioridou (of Kastoria) and Lefteris Avramakis (of Serres). Both had participated in the recent birthday party celebrations on the “3rd of September” in Crete, confirming the relevant reports. Well, yesterday the official announcements were also made.
SYRIZA: Since the talk is about adventures, the bets on a new crisis in Koumoundourou have begun and bear the name of Pavlos Polakis, who will not participate together with the other two of the “collective leadership” in SYRIZA’s presence at the TIF on Friday, since Nikos Pappas will give the press conference and Rena Dourou will speak to the productive bodies.
As for Pavlis’ absence, leaks last week said that he would not be able to be in Thessaloniki because he would be running in Athens the legal procedures for retrieving the Novartis case file. Which, however, he ran… yesterday, with the submission of the said request and recipients such as the Financial Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, the minister of Finance, ADAE.
As the column learns, the Cretan has not forgotten that after Famellos’ resignation in July, the argument for not electing a new president was the possibility (then) that national elections might be called in the autumn. So “what congress could you manage to hold and what internal party ballot boxes could you set up in the height of summer”, as the supporters of the collective leadership were saying.
Now, however, that the prime minister assured that the elections will be held in the spring, “the argument does not stand”, according to Pavlos’ friends.
To rebel or -much less- to cause a new …split, “out of the question”, they assure. But to remain on the sidelines, making his absence resounding (from meetings and videos, like the last two), “yes, that cannot be ruled out”, they add.
For how long? Unknown…
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: The CEO of the German group Timotheus Höttges will be in Athens, on the occasion of a major internal event to be hosted in Greece.
It is an internal Telekom event, focused on corporate culture and human resources issues. It is taking place this morning in the General Meetings hall of the Administrative Mansion of OTE and will be broadcast via web stream.
In addition to Höttges, several more Deutsche Telekom executives are expected to be in Athens. During the day there will be a series of meetings, while for the afternoon an event is scheduled for the employees in the garden of the Administrative Mansion, in the presence of Deutsche Telekom management.
On the occasion of his visit to Athens, Mr. Höttges is also expected to meet this morning with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as happens every time the head of Deutsche Telekom is in Greece.
The visit coincides, however, with a particularly important period for OTE, as the transition from Cosmote to Telekom is in full progress, marking a new era for the group after nearly three decades of the Cosmote brand’s course.
KOURTESIS: An LPG carrier that previously belonged to the portfolio of Geogas Trading was the first investment of Paloma Maritime Capital, a new shipping fund backed by the Kourtesis family.
The establishment of Paloma had become known in July. At that time it had become known that the fund had invested in two unnamed LPG carriers.
The first of these has now officially passed under its control. The ship management company Seahawk Gas, of the interests of the Kourtesis family, announced on its LinkedIn page the acquisition of Gas Aria, with a capacity of 22,500 cubic meters, built in 2008.
According to TradeWinds, until early August the vessel bore the name Laperouse and belonged to Geogas Trading, a shipping group based in Paris and Geneva that focuses on LPG transport.
The price of the transaction remains unknown. It is, probably, an older agreement, under which Geogas agreed to sell the vessel several months earlier, with delivery at a later time.
Seahawk Gas took delivery of the vessel on August 3 in the Dominican Republic and has already secured a long-term charter for it. “This is more than just an acquisition for us; it is a moment of pride for our entire team”, the company said.
Paloma was co-founded by Seahawk head Michael Kourtesis and former private banker Pietro Corpi, based in Luxembourg. The fund began carrying out transactions after raising a large part of its initial target of 120 million dollars from private equity investors.
Combined with other future forms of financing, it aims to have a total “war chest” of between 250 and 300 million dollars.
AEGEAN: Pressure on the stock was caused by the report by Eurobank Equities with which the target price for the airline’s stock was reduced to 15.9 euros (from 16 euros) as well as the estimates for the financial figures.
The share closed at 12.05 euros with a drop of 2.03% and is in danger of hitting... eleven in front for the first time since the end of July.
The brokerage estimates that this year net profits will decrease by 53%, to 69 million euros. Nevertheless, it maintains the “buy” recommendation, as the target price translates into an upside of about 36% from current levels.
FOURLIS: Management of the listed company is placing weight on restructuring, as it is expected to point out in today’s briefing of analysts on the first-half results.
For the second half of the year, the actions included in the transformation and aimed at the gradual strengthening of profitability are estimated at about 3.7 million euros. Of these, 3.4 million euros concern the voluntary staff departure program.
In the context of restructuring the retail network, the group is proceeding with the cessation of operation of stores that do not achieve the sought economic returns. In particular, it has been decided to discontinue the operation of the IKEA Piraeus store and Intersport stores.
STAR BULK: Debut today for the shipping company’s public offering. The company will offer 4.4 million new shares with a minimum price of 23 euros and a maximum of 25.50 euros, a fact that implies gross proceeds of up to 112.2 million euros.
The offer price represents a discount of about 9% compared with the last share price on the Nasdaq.
From the proceeds, an amount of 56.8 million euros will partly finance three vessels already under construction, while up to 48.1 million euros will support the acquisition of newbuild or second-hand vessels over the next 24 months.
DAA: This afternoon we will learn the half-year financial results of Eleftherios Venizelos.
The signs regarding revenues appear positive, given that just the day before yesterday it became known that during the eight months of 2026 total passenger traffic amounted to 23.71 million passengers (+4.4% on an annual basis).
On the board, however, the stock has been moving sideways downward lately, although yesterday it posted gains of 1.07% at 10.43 euros.
Interest is also turning to the analysts’ briefing, where it is estimated that management will unfold its plans regarding investments for the expansion of capacity.