Relentless questions and shadows in the sale of Intrakat

Eleni Bota’s

The takeover of the Intrakat construction group has caused relentless questions and shadows. The manner in which the acquisition was carried out and what followed afterwards caused the intervention of the Capital Market Commission, which in its letter to the shipowners requests to know whether there is coordination of actions between the shipowners Baku – Kaymenakis and Gotsis – Angelou. The Capital Market Commission, in its question to the new shareholders of Intrakat, asked to know whether there are cooperation agreements between the persons, natural and legal, who announced that they bought shares, either among themselves, or with the natural persons who control them, or with the Intracom, as well as whether they have joint investments, whether they are acting in concert under the public offer law or whether they had to make an announcement of a change in voting rights in the past.

It all started on Tuesday, July 6, when the shipowners Kaimenakis – Bakos acquired through the Stock Exchange 31.7% of the company (the percentage belonged to Intracom) at a price of 2.95 euros per share for 70.1 million euros.

The transaction was made through Winex Investments Limited, a company of interests of Mr. Bakus, Kaymenakis and Exarchos, while it was agreed that Intracom Holding would retain a 5.09% stake in Intrakat.

On the same day, the transfer of shares to shipowners Costas Angelou of Benelux Overseas and Ilias Gotsi of Eurotankers took place over the counter, with the former acquiring 13.6% and the latter 15.7% of Intrakat’s share capital at a price of 2.95 euros per share, i.e. 29.3% of the company.

These percentages were acquired by Dimitris Theodoridis (owned 12.13%), Loukas Lazarakis and Dimos Stasinopoulos (10.10%) and Petros Suretis (6.20%), who are fully withdrawing from Intrakat’s share capital.

The public proposal that did not come

This development, i.e. the appearance of two unrelated shipowners who acquired a percentage of less than 33% and thus avoided submitting a public proposal, was the reason for a great noise to erupt in the investment market.

Stock market circles report that the “plunge” of the stock when the acquisition was announced cannot be described as a mere coincidence, as, instead of converging with the price of 2.95 euros per share offered by shipowners Bakos and Kaymenakis to Intracom, it fell to 2.20 euros.

The reason was simple. The market expected that what the law provides would happen, that is, that they would buy the entire percentage, but also the percentages of the other main shareholders.

Naturally, the question arises: Were 4 shipowners found by chance, who were talking to different shareholders at the same time, without consulting, coordinating, and even offered the same price?

Capital.gr revealed that the signatures for the acquisition of the shares of Kaymenakis – Baku and Angelou – Gotsi were signed at the same time, in the same hotel and at the same price…

In the meantime, new, even more compelling questions are being raised regarding the Intrakat sale deal case. As revealed by Capital.gr, in the prospectus of Intrakat’s recent capital increase – which was approved by the Capital Market Commission – there was a statement of intent by the then major shareholders that they do not intend to leave the company for a period of 6 months after the start of trading of the new shares from the increase. This is a declaration of intent not to withdraw to the remaining shareholders and those who would have participated in the share capital increase, which was ultimately not respected.

It is obvious that the non-compliance with the declaration of intent has no legal impact in terms of the implementation of the transfer, but it creates a maximum issue for the small shareholders and essentially makes even more imperative the obligation of a public takeover offer of the remaining shares by the twin shipowners, which are now being investigated by the Capital Market Commission for coordinated action during the acquisition of Intrakat.

Strong argument

The public position – statement of intentions of the main shareholders of Intrakat before the small shareholders who participated in the capital increase, reasonably considering that the company’s share status will not change in the immediate period after the increase, comes to add another strong argument to those they argue that a public offer should be made by the company’s new shareholders, at the same price as the recent transactions with the 4 shipowners. And this is because it is clear that with the declaration of intentions the small shareholders who participated in the increase formed a completely different picture of the company’s future. And, in any case, they were taken by surprise and have not been given the opportunity – at least – to sell their shares at the same price as the major shareholders, who very easily made declarations of intent to keep their stakes.