Hidden Greek gems billionaire emerges with Folli Follie

By Tom Metcalf

Dimitrios Koutsolioutsos, the founder and chairman of Folli Follie SA (FFGRP), has become a billionaire as the Athens-based maker of jewelry, handbags and fashion accessories increased almost 10-fold in the last two years.

Folli Follie, which owns jeweler Links of London as well as its namesake retail chain, weathered Greece’s economic turmoil selling mid-priced items such as $60 Match & Dazzle Bracelets and $135 K Chic Handbags, and partnering with Shanghai-based Fosun International Ltd. and Basel, Switzerland-based Dufry AG.

"The Koutsolioutsos family managed to get the company out of a very difficult period when there was doubt whether Greece would stay in the euro zone," Iakovos Kourtesis, an Athens-based analyst at Piraeus Securities SA, said in a phone interview. "Through strategic agreements with Fosun they’ve managed to expand into China. The tie-up with Dufry promises growth in areas like Latin America and Russia."

Koutsolioutsos controls 36 percent of the company, according to a 2013 financial statement, a stake valued at $1 billion. The 71-year-old has at least $75 million in cash and other assets derived from share sales and dividends, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The billionaire didn’t respond to e-mail requests for comment.

Koutsolioutsos opened the first Folli Follie store in downtown Athens in 1982 with his wife, Ekaterini, according to the company’s website. The company sold shares on the Greek stock exchange 15 years later. It merged with Hellenic Duty Free Shops SA and Elmec Sport SA in 2010. His son, George, is the company’s chief executive officer.

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