London roadshow starts with record turnout

By Anestis Dokas

The Athens Exchange’s London roadshow got under way at Bloomberg’s headquarters in the British capital on Wednesday featuring 31 listed companies and with much better prospects than the previous editions in 2012 and 2013.

Up until late on Wednesday the Greek firms had made arrangements for as many as 1,050 business meetings with 125 funds, while a total of 190 fund managers had applied to participate. The first meetings, which took place on Wednesday evening, involved the managements of Aegean Airlines, OTE telecom, Public Power Corporation, Hellenic Exchanges and foreign funds.

This year the representation of international funds is at its highest level yet, which is also attributed to the presence of Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis. He is due to deliver a speech at 11.15 a.m. GMT on Friday, while Deputy Development Minister Notis Mitarakis is scheduled to speak on Thursday at 12.30 p.m. GMT, followed by an address by National Bank Chairman Giorgos Zannias.

The first questions that Greek corporate officials were reportedly asked by funds concerned when negotiations will start about the Greek state debt, based on the Eurogroup decision of November 2012, as well as the political uncertainty in Greece regarding a possible general election.