By L. Karageorgos
The Grimaldi shipping group this past week referred to an investment program with 17 potential purchases on the horizon.
Speaking during the 3rd Naftemporiki shipping conference in Athens on Thursday, Grimaldi managing director Confitarma President Emanuele Grimaldi said the current ferry boat sector in the Mediterranean was fragmented, with buyouts and mergers the necessary "tonic" to again make the sector robust and competitive, especially in the face of an onslaught by low-fare air carriers.
The group's latest results feature turnover of three billion euros annually, with a 750-million-euro EBITDA and 450 million euros in profits.
Grimaldi was tight-lipped over what the potential buyout or merger targets may be, when asked by "N" on the sidelines of the conference, excluding, of course, the group's well-known and documented interest in acquiring a majority stake and the management of Hellenic Seaways through its Greek subsidiary, Minoan Lines.
He did state that another four or five potential "targets" operate in the wider Mediterranean region.
In terms of the ongoing "tug-of-war" for control of HSW, Grimaldi said the group he heads up must have representation on HSW's board of directors, given that it holds 48.4 percent of the shipping company's shares, as opposed to 40 percent held by Athens-based Piraeus Bank.
