M&A bankers from the East and West discuss implications of Greek bailout on the EU

Chief analyst and head of research of oil and gas advisory business ABM Analytics told a crowd of global M&A bankers in London that Greece’s latest bailout is “overall, a bad deal”.

Guest speaker Dr Vlasios Voudouris told the room of 85 senior financial executives that given Greece has decided to stay in the eurozone, it could be a wise move for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to dissolve his Syriza government and call a general election.

“Given this context, elections are not a bad deal if a strong government can be formed to manage this multi-year programme.”

He said that Greek investment should be focused on the building of physical infrastructure, including transport and opening the energy market to foreign investors.

“Then there is a good chance, but not certainty, to get the country out of a recessionary spiral,” Dr Voudouris added.

Sadly for Greece, it seems that corporate investors cannot currently see the opportunities in the crisis-hit country, according to Eve Liu, founder and CEO of Konstan International Group, which offers its clients growth solutions through expansion in foreign markets and other strategies.

The former Blackstone hedge fund professional said “Most of our investors in China and Europe are currently not looking at investment opportunities in Greece,” Liu said.

“Since Cyprus became bankrupt, most long-term investors apart from hedge funds and trading companies do not look at the Greek market.

“But I came tonight as I am interested to hear the perspectives of other investors and to learn more about the possible impact of the Greek situation for my clients.”

The event was the first of a monthly series hosted by DealGlobe, the main organiser of the M&A network, a newly formed private social network for banking professionals in London. The event was also set up by The Golden Network, and the ACFPU Association of Chinese Financial Professionals in UK (ACFPU).

When Victoria Salem, CEO of the Golden Network, was asked how the sponsors came together to create the event, she said: “The idea is to alternate between a content-related event with a speaker on a hot finance-related topic, hence the speech by Dr Vlasios Voudouris on Greece tonight and a more social event. So our next event, will be more social. It will be held on 27 August.”