OPAP

OPAP, Europe's fourth-biggest betting business, said it had seen almost all its revenue wiped out by the closure of its outlets due to a coronavirus lockdown in Greece and Cyprus.

A number of Athens-listed companies are planning to take part in a new wave of bond issues, aiming to make the most of the favorable climate in the market and the improvement in investor confidence in Greece.

The Greek bourse saw another day of mild gains on Thursday despite the drop in buyers' interest. Rising stocks outnumbered the losers two-to-one and the benchmark inched higher once again, shaking off the impact of the OPAP dividend cut.

After hovering around Friday's closing level for most of the trading session on Monday, the stock benchmark at Athinon Avenue slipped below 920 points in the last hour-and-a-half, with blue chips such as banks experiencing selling action in the late afternoon.

The benchmark index of the Greek stock market posted a weekly advance at the end of Friday's session, buoyed by Standard & Poor's credit rating upgrade for Greece and hopes that DBRS will follow suit. That enthusiasm appeared to run out of steam on Friday though, as trade slumped and the main index ended marginally lower on the day.

The Hellenic Capital Market Commission on Monday approved a bid by Czech-based Sazka Group to take full control of gaming firm OPAP.
Greece sold a 33 percent stake in OPAP to Emma Delta, currently owned by Sazka Group and Georgios Melissanidis, in 2013 for about 650 million euros as part of an international bailout.

The market of games of chance is entering a new era after a decision by the Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, which invalidates the license that gaming giant OPAP had to provide online sports betting.

Gambling giant OPAP announced on Tuesday that its 100 percent subsidiary OPAP Investment Limited has signed a memorandum of understanding with Intralot for the acquisition of the latter's stake in lottery company Ellinika Lachia, amounting to 511,500 shares or 16.5 percent of the share capital, for 20 million euros.

Greece's OPAP, Europe's fourth-largest betting firm by revenue, said on Tuesday its chief financial officer would step down by the end of September to pursue other opportunities.
Michal Houst joined OPAP in 2013 after Greece sold a minority stake to a Czech-Greek fund.

The principal objective of the public proposal put forward by main shareholder Sazka Group for the acquisition of up to 67 percent of OPAP is the incorporation of the Greek gaming firm's results in those of the company founded by Karel Komarek.