Marfin Investment Group

Andreas Vgenopoulos, the lawyer turned businessman who founded one of Greece's largest holding groups, died at the age of 63 early on Saturday following a heart attack.

Vgenopoulos was the founder of Marfin Investment Group, which owned a number of businesses in Greece and southeastern Europe.

The chairman of Marfin Investment Group (MIG) Andreas Vgenopoulos and 14 Marfin Bank executives were facing felony charges in connection to a loan allegedly granted to investment firm IRF, it emerged on Thursday. The firm is owned by shipowner Angeliki Frangou.

The handful of traders who took an interest in the Athens stock market on Monday only did so to ease out of the bourse amid growing concerns that capital controls may be imposed as a deal between Greece and its creditors remains elusive. Trading was also at a record-low due to the public holiday in most European countries, on top of the prolonged uncertainty over the talks.

Reserved trade saw turnover dip to less than 75 million euros at the Greek bourse on Thursday and although the banks index posted a marginal drop the benchmark managed to recover its morning losses to end up well in the green.

Measured optimism that the market may have seen the worst yet generated early gains at the local bourse on Wednesday, but the changes imposed on the MSCI index setup regarding Greek chips left the benchmark virtually unchanged from the previous day at the end of the session.

By Ilias Bellos

Greek-owned United Caribbean Lines Florida has secured one of the first few licenses for the operation of coastal shipping services between the US and Cuba from the US Department of the Treasury, after about half a century without a service.

The Athens bourse?s recent spurt of growth came to an end on Wednesday. The benchmark closed at its lowest point of the session, with losses of 1 percent, as investors chose to cash in some of their gains from the previous five sessions of growth. The declines on a number of other European markets also played a role.

Greek bank stocks received a much needed boost from news of the ELA extension by the European Central Bank, sending the banks index up 13.40 percent and helping the benchmark recover 2 percent on Wednesday after three consecutive sessions of losses.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 719.43 points, rising 2.08 percent from Tuesday?s 704.74 points.

The government?s decision to introduce a legislative act forcing state entities to submit their cash reserves to the Bank of Greece canceled out all gains that stocks had notched up in the week?s opening session at Athinon Avenue, while banks shook off the threat by eurozone central bankers that the Greek credit system may soon be short of collateral for drawing liquidity.

Bank stocks continued their decline on Thursday, but that was not enough to force more losses on the Athens bourse benchmark, which gained more than 1 percent thanks to the closing auctions in a rather indifferent market, as the constantly low trading volume reveals.