SEKAP is on the verge of bankruptcy
Greek tobacco industry SEKAP is on Thursday likely to decide to go bankrupt at an extraordinary board meeting it called following a court verdict on past debts.
SEKAP, currently owned by Russian-Greek investor Ivan Savvidis, announced on Tuesday it has called the extraordinary meeting of its governing board to discuss the situation after the issue of the decision by the Komotini Court of Appeal that is forcing the industry to pay a 38-million-euro in full for law violations that took place in 2009, before the current ownership.
The meeting will also address a recent decision by the customs authorities of Xanthi, stemming from the verdict on the fine, “that has rendered impossible the sale of products in the domestic market,” as the SEKAP statement read.
Notably, board members will be joined on Thursday by top Greek experts in bankruptcy cases.
Savvidis, owner of a series of companies in northern Greece including Makedonia Palace Hotel in Thessaloniki, Souroti drinks industry and PAOK soccer club, as well as several media holdings, forms part of the consortium that recently acquired a controlling stake in Thessaloniki Port Authoirity (OLTH) via his Belterra Investments company.
Earlier this year Savvidis made the headlines for his statements that “when I heard the speech [Prime Minister Alexis] Tsipras made on SEKAP I was ready to applaud him, he reminded me of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin”, and that New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis “will never become prime minister”.
