Trump, Melchizedek, Panos and Roumpatis’s bugs, the gathering of the embittered at Lolita’
Source: ProtoThema English
Hello, yesterday I received the information that Donald and his staff asked for details about Melchizedek after first receiving a polite but curt SMS from Panos Kammenos of the type: “President, when we were in Alaska (meeting with Putin) I asked you a small favor to arrange Saint Melchizedek but you neglected it, please finish it because I promised it to some of my people down in Chania. Love Panos (the Greek).” I would kindly ask you not to laugh at my source because an old, good journalistic principle says “don’t let the truth ruin a good story.” And Panos, even indirectly, still writes history, although six years have passed since his removal, he lost a lot of weight, let his hair grow out in blond shades, and did his teeth pearly white. Not to mention, I’ve heard he also hangs out at the best places in Paris. Why he now wanted dealings with priests and criminals? We are with him.
Were the SYRIZA people listening to him?
So, having gotten past the matter (of Panos) with the holy favor, Donald and the rest, because frankly I don’t believe a word of all this, I move on to something else, probably more serious. From the previous wiretap “the mafia of Crete” says to President Panos something about a hotel in Kolymbari in Chania where they had planted bugs and were listening to him, (our president). In the second audio they both bluntly say that they had “tapped” him properly with bugs in curtains, sockets, lamps, and other espionage devices. I again asked my source and he reminded me of a wild incident between Kammenos and Roubatis, when journalist Giannis was at NIS under SYRIZA. And they were saying back then that co-governor Panos went and complained to governor Alexis Tsipras that “Roubatis of EYP was monitoring him.” Could it be that the incident in Kolymbari, which the mafioso recalls and the president of ANEL confirms, was the one over which he exploded at Roubatis? Or one of them? Should someone tell us what this is? A Trump-style fantasy or truth? Because sometimes from a child and a madman you learn the truth.
Third person for the Metropolis
After the dramas with Melchizedek, and also the government amendment that blocked the prospect of transferring the current Metropolitan of Kissamos and Selinos Amfilochios to the vacant seat of Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronas, I understand that the Patriarchate and the government are trying to agree on another, third person. This Archimandrite Melchizedek, however, as a person who knows told me, never had the support of K.M., whom he met socially last year, but being ambitious he tried to climb up, perceiving the vacancy in the Metropolitan’s seat. I hear that one person in play is the Bishop of Knossos Methodios, but there is still a way to go.
TIF–is starting this weekend
K.M. is going up today at noon to the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) and will make an appearance after 7 p.m. at Marinakis’ invitation to journalists, at Electra Palace. Yesterday, in view of Sunday’s press conference, there was an intensive training session with him and his close associates for the possible questions and answers he will face at the press conference, which is expected to have a bit of everything. From OPEKEPE and scandals, to Tsipras’ party, Samaras’ party, the electoral law, etc.
Dendias, the camp and the reactions
The day before yesterday, Nikos Dendias went to the former “Ziakas” camp in the municipality of Kordelio-Evosmos and announced something absolutely logical, namely its utilization for the construction of 600 residences for the members of the Armed Forces, who themselves face an acute housing problem. Rightly so, since the Armed Forces have large and inactive assets. However, Dendias’ announcements provoked the reaction of the local mayor, who is from ND, and now together with the opposition he is preparing legal moves, as he has long been claiming the area to make it a park. In his discussions he always has the argument that the government should back him, because in his municipality Velopoulos’ party has risen a lot.
Gathering at Lolita’s
I hear that two days ago, at Lolita’s in Psychiko, on the initiative of Notis Mitarakis, something he usually does, there dined together Giannis Pappas, Giannis Oikonomou, Dimitris Markopoulos, Giorgos Georgantas Vice-President of the Parliament, Giorgos Stylios, Miltos Chrysomallis, and Stelios Petsas. This particular parliamentary company, as you understand, is not the happiest in the parliamentary group, since half of them never became ministers, while the other half did and never returned. An eavesdropper from a neighboring table heard their complaints, various comments about the upcoming TIF and how it will go, but also their anxiety about what will happen in the elections since, let me add, if ND stays at today’s levels it’s questionable if one or two of them will re-enter Parliament.
A critical weekend for Credia Bank
As the administration of CrediaBank had promised, with the completion of one year since the merger of Attica and the former Pancretan, today the functional integration of the information systems of the new Bank is completed. This weekend, while everyone’s attention will be focused on Thessaloniki, CrediaBank will be carrying out the transition to a single system for managing the customers of the former Attica Bank and the former Pancretan Bank. Necessary rehearsals have taken place during the summer and, if all goes smoothly, the functional integration will have been achieved even earlier than the final date set by the Supervisory Authority. The integration also concerns the customer’s experience at the branch, as many transactions are being digitized, resulting in time savings in transactions. Within the first fortnight of the month, the confirmatory due diligence that CrediaBank is conducting on HSBC Malta will also be completed, so negotiations will move to the more important stage.
When the EBRD “renounced” €4.5 million
In less than 20 days, specifically on 22/9, the ex-dividend date takes place for the interim dividend of €0.20 that Bank of Cyprus will distribute. Those holding shares on that day will see on October 20 the amount credited to them. However, the EBRD, which was the last legacy shareholder of the bank with a 5.1% stake since 2014, decided not to wait for the dividend and to sell its entire stake via placement at €7.20. A total of 22,401,744 shares were sold to institutional investors for €161 million. Had the EBRD waited for the ex-dividend date it would have received another €4.5 million. However, the right to the dividend probably worked supportively for those portfolios that participated in the placement, which according to Bank of Cyprus are mainly long-only funds. Of course, there were also the… hasty ones since yesterday the share was found losing even 2.5% on the Stock Exchange, as the placement was done at a discount of around 5% compared to the market price, and possibly some did not hesitate in front of the opportunity for quick profit. Nevertheless, it reduced the losses and closed at €7.52 with a drop of 0.79%. The decision for EBRD’s divestment is of course considered by the market entirely justified if one thinks that it remained present throughout the journey of transformation and restructuring of Bank of Cyprus. Moreover, its share, which has risen by about 78% since the beginning of 2025, surpassing the returns of Greek banks, strengthened also by the strong financial results announced in August. As for the continuation, shareholders can expect new distributions, as Bank of Cyprus in 2025 targets a payout ratio of 70%, i.e., at the highest percentage (50–70%) of the distribution policy set by management.
The Chair of ATHEX
The processes for the acquisition of ATHEX by Euronext continue, with the launch of the public offer expected within October and its completion in November. I hear that things are going better for Giannos Kontopoulos, the likable CEO of ATHEX who, as is well known, has the gift of Johnny Walker, meaning—as that old advertisement used to say—he creates only friends everywhere. At first, Giannos took it hard and was saying here and there that he intended to leave after the acquisition of ATHEX. Later he obviously thought better of it and I hear in the market that he now appears very cooperative, helpful, and generally willing to contribute. In addition, the climate helped him because the people of Euronext do not want their arrival to be associated with abrupt reshuffles. So Giannos had Morgan Stanley (advisor to ATHEX) negotiate with Deutsche Bank (advisor to Euronext) about his position, and everything now indicates that he is securing his next day at ATHEX with the new bosses.
AKTOR: Higher-quality revenues and better financial base
A historic record in EBITDA, full cash reserves, and practically zero net debt were shown in the half-year results for the AKTOR Group. What is important is that last year’s EBITDA also included revenues from the sale of a RES portfolio to the PPC Group, while in the first half of 2025 the Group’s flows came entirely from production, meaning they are higher-quality revenues and represent a better financial base. This development raises the bar of expectations for the AKTOR Group, led by Alexandros Exarchou, and it is obviously no coincidence that the market capitalization is at a historic high.
Eurobank preparing a conference
Eurobank is organizing a conference aimed at bringing companies from the United Arab Emirates into contact with Greek businesses and investment opportunities. Ideally, the bank would like it to take place this month, although it is not excluded that it may eventually be held a little later. At Eurobank, they believe that partnership possibilities should be further explored, especially in a period when the region is a hot zone and our country is being recorded politically and economically as a factor of balance. Eurobank has worked its relations with the Middle East quite a lot, while also helping in this direction is the strong presence of the group in Cyprus.
IDEAL Holdings: Not interested in acquiring DELTA
In the conference call following the results of IDEAL Holdings, the president of the listed company, Lambros Papakonstantinou, put an end to the market speculation that had recently been circulating and suggested IDEAL was in talks for acquiring DELTA. Responding to analysts’ questions, he categorically denied the rumors about DELTA, saying outright that there had been no discussion with CVC except for “Barba Stathis,” adding emphatically that there is no intention for such a thing. Among other things, he also said that IDEAL will organize an investor day within October.
The stock with the biggest rise yesterday
Yesterday, CHAIDEMENOS was the stock with the largest increase on the board (+7.34%), with its capitalization approaching €8 million. The packaging company is participating in a major tender with a budget of €15.1 million—for the production of school textbooks—the revenues from which, if it wins, it will use to reduce its debts and upgrade its equipment. In order to participate in this specific tender, the company asked its shareholders for full nominalization of their shares down to the last individual, and this may have caused some hasty moves. Apart from the +7.34% rise of CHAIDEMENOS, yesterday the second largest increase was recorded by the stock of Quality & Reliability (+5.92%), Mevaco (+4.10%), and Ktima Lazaridi (+3.81%).
Inside, outside, and all around
From yesterday’s announcements by OPAP management, it emerges that about 318,000 Greeks are involved in BETTING. On the Athens Stock Exchange, active accounts do not exceed 32,000. In this shallow market, foreign managers are the only protagonists, and these days their attention is focused solely on political and economic developments in the center of Europe. Next week, on September 10 and 11, the management of the European Central Bank meets to deal with the political crisis in France that will have peaked two days earlier. In London, managers saw the government trying to sell 20-year inflation-linked bonds worth £800 million, with the highest real yield since 2001. The real yield of these bonds was set at 2.412%, the highest since April 2001, while the day before yesterday the 10-year bond was paying the highest rate since 2008. In this climate, the Greek stock market dealt only with holding the fortress of 2,000 points, and for this reason the “heaviest” stock on the board, Coca Cola, was deployed from the start of the session, which after doing its duty early with an impressive +2.3% rise, later settled at €43.16 (+0.61%). The banks tried to resist the pressures and managed with Piraeus (+1.21%) at €6.85 and Alpha (+0.35%) at €3.48. The value of transactions was impressive at €339.85 million, but this was due to the divestment of EBRD from Bank of Cyprus (€161 million) and the placement of institutional portfolios. Without the Bank of Cyprus blocks, the value of transactions remained at €179 million, of which €22 million were in blocks. If we exclude Jumbo (+1.67%) at €30.42, which announced an 8% increase in sales for the eight-month period, the remaining transactions are characterized as indifferent, with spot scalping and trades with an extremely short-term horizon.
Trump ordered a massive repurchase of government bonds
The US Treasury Department is carrying out the largest government bond repurchase operation in its history. So far it has bought 138 billion dollars for 2025, compared to 79 billion in 2024. Obviously, the Trump administration is concerned about the attractiveness of US government bonds, which until yesterday were considered the definition of a safe (risk free) investment. The 138 billion dollars is not much compared to the ocean of Public Debt that exceeds 36.5 trillion dollars. However, it is a defensive mechanism to address the depreciation of the dollar and the pressures faced by US bonds in international markets. The FED is showing record losses, banks are struggling to absorb new issues, and the Trump administration is intervening in the bond market. This operation does not “resemble” quantitative easing (QE) by the Federal Central Bank FED, since the money comes from existing resources and not from “new money printing.” On Wall Street, however, they call this intervention “QE light”: It is a fiscal intervention that tries to boost confidence in a market tested by low demand, increased yields, and international concerns about the sustainability of US debt.
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