A. Tamvakakis: At the end of 2022, he turns the key to the new equity fund

By George Lampiris

At the end of 2022, the key turns to the new fund prepared by Apostolos Tamvakakis after the already active investment scheme, EOS Capital Partners, which has already run a wide cycle of investments. The executives of the new fund have already carried out exploratory actions in order to identify companies of interest, creating their own shortlist, based on which the new entity will move for investment. The upcoming fund will be larger than the EOS Hellenic Renaissance Fund and it is expected that the management of funds that will be available in the form of investments in small and medium enterprises will reach 150 million euros.

As Mr. Tamvakakis stated in the context of his presence at the Fortune CEO Initiative 2021, an ecosystem has been created in the field of private equities in Greece, which contributes to the investments of 1 per thousand based on 2020 data that he invoked. He added that the corresponding percentage in Europe is 5 per thousand, while he mentioned that Greek capital management companies contribute significantly less than 1 per thousand, a percentage which, as he said, includes foreign investment funds.

According to the head of EOS Capital Partners, the ecosystem has paved the way for the development of partnerships between investment funds. He divided the investment fund categories into two, saying that either one moves alone or works with someone to raise more capital.

Small and medium enterprises in Greece need money, strategy and corporate governance

Small and medium enterprises said that what they need in Greece is money. He added, however, that money should not be the only criterion. It needs, according to him, the building of strategy, but also the building of corporate governance. “Among other things, a company gets a price,” he said, noting that during the process of an investment, a completely different number appears than what a company previously thought was worth a company. what he dreams of. I will give you an example: if someone has a company with equity of 5 million euros, that is, a good company that makes a profit, if it raises a share capital of 10 million, suddenly 5 becomes 15 million euros. It is not so much the 10 million that goes into the company that counts the most, as the fact that the company in question can raise through financing, an amount that is twice as much as its own funds “.

How we got to the sale of Cosmos Sport

Regarding Cosmos Sport and the sale to the British JD Sports Fashion, Apostolos Tamvakakis stated that it was one of the 500 companies that EOS Capital Partners had detected. “When I set up the fund we looked at about 2,500 companies and from them we came up with 500, which then became 300. What we liked about this company was that behind it were three new kids, three brothers. So we saw a dynamic in In addition, we saw that these guys had a passion for this market. The third thing that impressed us was that in the years 2018-2019 most of their sales were through eshop. So we entered a company with a very strong “We did not look at the numbers at all, which were good anyway. In addition, the global sportswear market was growing at an annual rate of 8% -10% per annum when we invested and is now up 12%.”

“We immediately stuck strategically with the founders of Cosmos Sport, we had common goals and we completely agreed, while we entered the market very aggressively. Suffice it to say that this company when we invested had 4 million euros of equity and we added 12 million euros in shareholder increase As a result, Cosmos doubled its turnover, tripled Ebitda and increased its staff from 250 to 750 in 21 months. “When the stores were open, this success created a great deal of market sentiment and at the same time provoked two foreign companies. One of them was JD Sports, which the company eventually came up with.”

He added that “it happened to this company to go out in two years”, noting that equity funds stay in the investments they implement for five to eight years. put money as they play a very big role, typically saying that “money generates money”. At the same time, as he said, the goal is to increase the value of each business, sales and Ebitda.

Mr. Tamvakakis finally stated that on the occasion of the arrival of the Recovery Fund, money will be allocated to companies mainly through bank lending. He stressed, however, that what is missing from small and medium enterprises is investments through equity funds. “Private equities can help companies raise more money and let them do what they have dreamed of, where the limits will be set by the company itself.”