The Greek-American consortium Calamos-Exin Group’s acquisition of Ethniki Insurance, a National Bank of Greek subsidiary, could be drastically affected with reports that American investment mammoths Pimco and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway have joined in.
Calamos is a billionaire owner of his own asset management company whose CEO is fellow Greek-American John Koudounis.
The Exin Financial Group said that it will submit details of the funding needed for the takeover of Ethniki, the largest insurance company in Greece and Calamos’ investment drew praise from Greek officials as the government is seeking more foreign businesses.
The newspaper Kathimerini said that the group has informed monitoring authorities of the interest of Pimco and the company owned by Buffet, one of the world’s richest man and a long-time financial sage, but could not confirm it and other reports denied Pimco’s interest.
Sources told the paper new funding vehicle may also include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, though EBRD sources declined to comment.
Exin has not revealed the amount of capital the new funding contributors will bring in, but Kathimerini said the upcoming changes will also alter the holdings of Koudounis and Calamos who could find their roles reduced although it wasn’t clear.
Exin-Calamos came out as the winning bidder last year for the Greek insurance behemoth, reportedly offering between 700-750 million euros ($787.25-$843.49 million) for a 75 percent stake in the insurance arm, the country’s biggest insurer with an 18 percent market share.
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Source: thenationalherald.com
