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Capital Link New York

Eleni Bej

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The 4th Annual Capital Link Forum took place on Monday October 30th, at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. The Conference was organized by Capital Link, a New York based international investor relations and financial advisory company in cooperation with the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in Athens, Greece, one of the most active Chambers in Europe. This year's subject was "Greece: Your EMU partner in Southeastern Europe". It focused on the achievements, developments and opportunities in the Greek economy, stock market and business world. Also, on the leading role which Greece can play in the area of Southeastern Europe being the only EMU member in this zone.

Capital Link organizes this conference on an annual basis since 1997 in cooperation with a Greek partner, this year the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce. This annual Conference, in its fourth year now, has become a tradition which brings together senior representatives from the Greek political, business, financial and investment communities with their American counterparts. Its purpose is to update US investors about the achievements, developments and opportunities in Greece.

The main sponsors for this year's Forum were The Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE), The Intrakom Group of Companies, P&K Securities, a leading financial services firm. Supporting sponsors were Commercial Bank of Greece, DTZ Mihalos, a real estate firm, and the Hellenic Center for Investments (ELKE).

The Conference was hugely successful as evidenced by the fact that it was attended by more than 400 senior executives from US institutional investment firms, investment and commercial banks, insurance companies, and representatives of industries with trading interests in Greece and its surrounding countries. In addition, there were several senior delegates of the American, Greek-American and Greek media and other important contributors of the Greek-American community.

Attendees included names like Citibank, American Century, Morgan Stanley Asset Management, Clay Finlay, Kingdom Capital, Sierra Global Management, Arnhold and Bleichroeder, Bear Sterns, BNP Paribas, Brown Brothers Harriman, CIBC Oppenheimer, Deutsche Bank, Fall Creek Management, HSBC, Lazard Freres, New Jersey Fund, and many others.

Mr. Nicolas Bornozis, President of Capital Link, stressed the importance of this year's Conference being the first one after Greece's accession to the EMU and its recent upgrade to developed market status. Mr. Constantine Papagiannakopoulos, the President of the American-Hellenic Chamber, stressed the importance of Greece as the gateway for investments in Southeastern Europe.

The conference was initiated with a speech from the Ambassador of the United States in Athens, Mr. Nicholas Burns, who highlighted the business opportunities in Greece and the role Greece can play in the wider region. Then, the Greek Ambassador in Washington Mr. Alexander Filon, among other topics talked about the economic stabilization of Greece and its positive effects in the southeastern territories of Europe relating on how political events influence the economy.

The Consul General of Greece in New York, welcomed the audience, while the Mayor of Athens, Mr. Dimitris Avramopoulos finalized the first round of speeches.

Taking the poll next was the permanent representative of Greece in the United Nations, Mr. Elias Gounaris, who presented Greece's position and role in a time of globalization.

Then, the head of the Credit Advisory Unit of Credit Suisse First Boston, Mr. Georg Grodski, talked about the stance of foreign institutional investors towards the credit risk rating of Greece, in both the state and corporate issues. Mr. Grodski explained how investors could protect themselves in the stock and bond markets. He talked about the macro-economic indicators of Greece and the performance in the equities market and the overall credit rating among Greek assets. His speech ended with recommendations and forecasts in the performance of Greek Equities in the context of the EMU. Mr. Grodski mentioned that the Greek stock market seems to have reached a low point and be poised for a turnaround. The upgrading of the Greek stock market by MSCI is expected to generate substantial net investment inflows. The sectors which stand to benefit in the near term, between now and the beginning of the year, are telecommunications and energy. These are global sectors with high liquidity, which investors can analyze quire easily. In a second wave, the banking sector and technology sectors stand to benefit as well. The technology sector is experiencing a high degree of volatility but will rebound. Greece's potential in this sector has not been properly communicated and presents an important investment opportunity. The banking sector will again attract investor attention after they can evaluate the risks from Greece's conversion to the Euro and full integration within the EMU, as well as the impact on bank profitability from the reshaping of the yield curve to EMU levels.

Mr. George Michelis, Deputy Chairman and General Manager of Commercial Bank, analyzed the banking system in Greece, the recent changes and the developmental potential that lies ahead. The general manager analyzed the great progress achieved by the Greek economy and its effects on the growth of the banking sector. The future and further possibilities of growth were his topic during his remaining talk.

Representing the Financial Authorities of Greece, attending the conference were Dr. Stavros Thomadakis, Chairman of the Hellenic Capital Markets Commision, and Dr. Panagiotis Alexakis, president of the Athens Stock Exchange and the Athens Derivative Exchange. Dr. Thomadakis outlined the regulatory framework which governs the Greek market place, and Dr. Alexakis outlined his plan of action for the upgrading of the Athens Stock Exchange and its role in the post EMU era. He outlined specific measures taken for the enhancement of the efficiency, transparency and liquidity of the ASE and for its increased visibility among international institutional investors, whose participation in the Greek stock market will inrease after Greec's recent upgrade to developed market status. Dr. Alexakis also focused on ASE's initiatives to become the gateway for securities investments in the wider region.

Mr. Lambros Papakonstantinou, President of P&K Securities summarized the history of the Athens Stock Exchange, and presented his P&K's views regarding the future direction of the market and events that will influence such expectations.

The foundation of the Greek construction industry was the subject presented by Mr. George Ganotis, Secretary general of the Ministry of Public Works. He looked back at experiences realized from recent projects and stated the potential for new construction projects throughout Greece. Mr. Ganotis mentioned the projects of the national airport at the Spata area, the Rio-Antirio Bridge, the subway system of Thessaloniki, and the Ring Road around Athens. Talking about opportunities in Greece, Mr. Ganotis referenced various projects which are currently under progress, as is the Gas distribution network.

Covering the Real Estate investment sector was Mr. Petros Mihalos, Managing Director DTZ Mihalos. DTZ Mihalos is a subsidiary of DTZ International and operates in Greece since 1993. He outlined the substantial opportunities in the real estate sector in Greece.

Dr. Eleftherios Tzellas, President of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of Hellenic Petroleum presented next. Dr. Tzellas referred to the dynamics of the sector, and outlined Hellenic Petroleum's market positioning and growth opportunities. Dr. Tzellas presented the financial and business data of the company and focused on the company's plans to realize several large scale projects.

The Chief Financial Officer of Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, Mr. Dimitris Kouvatsos analyzed the telecommunications sector and the huge potential the sector offers. Mr. Kouvatsos talked about the liberalization trends that exist throughout Europe as a whole and continued the overview of the Greek market place, the telecommunications sector and the regulatory framework. The CFO of OTE analyzed the high growth opportunities for OTE which included mobile telephony, fixed-wireless and the Internet.

The data information sector is one of the faster growing areas in the Greek economy. Also, the Greek market has the biggest growth potential in Southeastern Europe in Informatics. Mr. Athanasios Pouliadis, President of the Pouliadis Group, analyzed the Informatics Sector while drawing a comparison using economic figures, to the sectors of developed European countries. His main concept was that Greece offers the highest growth in the data informatics industry and ended his speech by addressing the four main drivers of the growth 1) the institutionalization of the Euro 2) funding from European Union 3) the 2004 Olympiad and 4) the conversion of technologies.

Representing ELKE (Hellenic Center for Investments), Mr. Harris Issaias referenced the competitive advantages of Greece. Central subject of his speech was Greece's ability to act as a physical link for investments in Eastern Europe. He argued why Greece could act as such a bridge to the Balkan region and analyzed the role of ELKE in the investment developments in Greece.

The Conference was concluded with a presentation during luncheon by Mr. Nikos Christdoulakis, Minister of Development. He presented Greece's new image and its economic prospects during his speech. Christodoulakis said the country's improved image was based on improving economic figures, Greece's participation in EMU, upgrading of the country's geopolitical role in the Balkans and the investment opportunities linked with hosting the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

He said that Greece was aiming to become a junction in the wider energy market in cooperation with Italy and Turkey. Christodoulakis said a visibility study on a Greece-Italy energy link was under completion and that a Burgas-Alexandroupoli gas pipeline was progressing steadily. "Greece is seeking and supporting efforts to develop alternate energy forms," he said.

Christodoulakis reassured that all scheduled projects would be ready on time for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and urged U.S. investors to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the country.

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