Greetings, fresh pretzels in the polls, since today M.M. is also receiving its own survey on what has been happening in public opinion over the past week. So, New Democracy (ND) has a significant recovery compared to December—around 1.5%–2%, always including the extrapolations—which is mainly due to pensioners and public-sector employees who saw the first increase “after the budget–Pierrakakis measures” in pensions and salaries. The conclusion of the farmers’ issue also played a role, in the sense that the subsidies that were pending in December were paid, and at that time ND’s dip had appeared among respondents who are farmers and livestock breeders. Let me be clear, so we don’t exaggerate, that this one-and-a-half to maybe two points, more or less, is nothing shocking or “celebratory” for the governing party, but one way or another it “shows something,” according to the source who gave me the report: “What’s important is that our needle moves depending on the period and the events,” he told me. ND λοιπόν, according to this poll and always with the extrapolations, is at around 30%–30.5%, but the interesting part is what’s happening below that, where we have upheavals. Three existing parties—the PASOK, Velopoulos, and Zoe—are very close to one another, within the margin of statistical error, while Karystianou is clearly measured in second place at 15%, and Tsipras slightly below President Maria. Let me clarify that you will not see an “official percentage” for a party that has not been announced, from any regular polling company. Therefore, formally, PASOK will appear second with a slight difference from Zoe and Velos. SYRIZA is in the doldrums and Latinopoulou is quite pressured at the threshold; the KKE is also at its lows.

The new surprise finding
– From this survey, part of which you will certainly see within the week, what struck me is that for the first time a distinct shift is recorded from potential PASOK voters to ND—a small but distinct percentage, I repeat. I asked my source how he explains it, and he told me that “there is a serious centrist crowd that sees the circus going on in the opposition with President Maria and Tsipras, Zoe and Velopoulos, and thinks about what is going to happen in the future. They imagine Karystianou negotiating with Erdoğan… and PASOK pays the price,” he told me with a smile, while of course clarifying that we are making conjectures based on polls that are conducted every month, while we are 16 months away from the elections.

The modest ceremony comes to an end…
– Today K.M. is receiving the leaders of the farmers and has taken care to make it clear in every tone that there is no extra money, since improvements to the package initially announced have already been granted. The agricultural union leaders may put on heroic airs, but they have no desire to remain at the roadblocks after two months. What is needed, therefore, is a little… “cheese” in the so-called “technical” issues, in order to give them an excuse to exit. And even if they decide to play tough after the meeting, Mitsotakis will not concern himself further, given that society has already taken its eyes off the mobilizations. And, as he also says in his public statements, there are other social groups as well.

Mitsotakis – ExxonMobil in Davos against the backdrop of hydrocarbon exploration
– On the same panel as the head of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, in a discussion on how Europe can escape stagnation, the prime minister will sit next Thursday as part of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The session, titled “Europe Is Treading Water, How Can It Make Waves?”, brings to the same table politicians, bankers, and top executives of the global economy. Along with the Greek prime minister will participate Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the president of the European Investment Bank Nadia Calviño, and Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing. This is a panel that captures the intersection of political power, financing, and business decisions, at a time when Europe is seeking ways to restart productivity and growth. The discussion takes place during a period in which European productivity remains stagnant, with key obstacles being the investment gap and high energy costs, as also highlighted in the Draghi Report. At the center is the role of investments in energy—alongside the green transition—as a factor in strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and energy security. However, the presence of the head of ExxonMobil gives the discussion an additional, informal but substantial dimension for Greece. The American company is a key international player—along with Chevron—in the concessions west and southwest of Crete, while it has expanded its presence in the country with its participation in Block 2 of the Ionian Sea. These are areas that, if the estimates are confirmed, could alter Greece’s energy map and strengthen its role in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is no coincidence that just in November, ExxonMobil vice president John Ardill, speaking from Athens, placed the decision for an exploratory drilling as early as 2026, with the prospect of implementation in 2027 and the start of natural gas production, if everything proceeds smoothly, in the early 2030s. In Block 2 of the Ionian Sea, a carbonate rock reservoir has already been identified at a depth of about 4,000 meters below sea level, with a potential deposit estimated at 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Management of the concession during the exploration period is held by Energean. The coming months are considered critical, as they will determine whether the existing timelines will turn into binding decisions.

“Brake” on insurance premiums
– In recent days I wrote to you about Theodorikakos’s message to insurance companies—who were heading toward increases of up to 15% in health insurance premiums—to hold back. In fact, a related meeting had taken place, and it appears that the gentlemen’s agreement will be honored by the insurers, who are indeed oriented toward increases, but at single-digit levels, as happened last year as well, taking inflation figures into account. The market is free, of course, but it cannot be unrestrained.

Crowds at the Presidential Mansion
– After Karamanlis visited the Presidency last Wednesday, Tasoulas is expecting K.M., who will carry out his monthly briefing to the President of the Republic next Tuesday. And the following day, Wednesday, Tasoulas’s meeting with George Papandreou is scheduled. Tasoulas generally seeks to find a counterbalance to polarization, speaking also with former prime ministers. Contact has already been made with Antonis Samaras and Alexis Tsipras, who in the coming days will finalize their meetings with the President of the Republic.

President Maria – Down Town
– Over the past weekend, Karystianou’s interview in Down Town magazine, which circulated with Fileleftheros of Cyprus, was widely read; the cover with the retouched photo of the president was commented on, as was her dress, which resembles Versace, etc., for the needs of the photoshoot. To give my opinion: Karystianou entered politics and gives an interview to a lifestyle magazine—it seems logical to me that she would pose, be made up, and dressed for the cover of such a magazine; otherwise she would have gone to speak to the same news outlet (and not its social insert), to another newspaper, or to a website. That is where she wanted to “go” to speak, and that is where she went, and I don’t think she did it unconsciously—her taste, her choice, and whoever wants to judge her may judge her, since, I repeat, the woman entered politics.

Tonia’s party, the PASOK people, and the others
– If it weren’t for the two cadres from the Androulakis side—Kostas Tsoukalas and Andreas Spyropoulos—it would have looked more like a “pre-conference” of the internal party opponents of President Nikos in the center of Athens. But Tonia Antoniou’s invitation to a well-known bar was for her name day, and so many people from PASOK responded, regardless of their connection to one or another internal faction. Eyewitnesses, however, say that at Tonia’s party, those who supported Androulakis in the internal elections probably did not exceed the fingers of one hand. On the contrary, from early Saturday evening and until well after midnight, dozens of cadres arrived and departed, who are preparing for a hard political arm-wrestling match with the presidential camp at the March Congress. Among the first to arrive were Haris Doukas with his wife Georgia and his close associates Christos Protopapas and Kostas Pantis, as well as Manolis Christodoulakis with several cadres of the “network” that is “warming up” ahead of the Congress. Pavlos Geroulanos was represented at the party by people from his “circle”; Kostas Skandalidis, Odysseas Konstantinopoulos, Nadia Giannakopoulou, and many others (mainly from Southern Athens, where Antoniou will again be a parliamentary candidate) were also there—and drank a glass of wine with her—as were cadres who left PASOK, went to SYRIZA during the Tsipras era, departed, and now seem to be returning, little by little, such as Thanos Moraitis, Zoe Karkoulia, and Panagiotis Kormas. These things happen too… What does not happen, especially at these green gatherings on whatever occasion, is for the conversation to exclude the “jabs” about the unmoving needle, the “stakes” of the Congress, and the bets on the performance of the Karystianou and Tsipras parties. Are they worried? They are more worried about the “nibbling” of voters by Karystianou in every constituency.

The Chinese Embassy in Athens… cut the New Year’s cake
– For the first time, after many years of presence in Greece, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Athens decided to… cut a New Year’s cake last Friday! At a time when President Trump is exerting suffocating pressure on Europe with new tariffs, while all European leaders have officially announced visits to Beijing “to strengthen Sino-European political and economic relations,” Ambassador Fang Qiu decided to honor our country’s customs and cut a New Year’s cake. Fang Qiu has never missed an opportunity to speak about the “new era of cooperation between Greece and China,” with an emphasis on trade, Piraeus as a logistics hub, the green transition, and the maritime economy. It came as no surprise that well-known Greek shipowners (Tsakos, Prokopiou, Palios, etc.) and businesspeople honored the event with their presence. The presence of the political leadership was also discreet, with Giorgos Tragakis—who is, after all, president of the Greek-Chinese Friendship Association—the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos, and the former President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos also in attendance.

Napalm bombs in Lavrio?
– The night before last, a massive fire broke out at liquid fuel storage tanks in Perama, and the authorities fought a huge, almost all-night battle, ultimately managing to extinguish it without any loss of life. All’s well that ends well—these things happen, and often the damage cannot be foreseen. But in the similar case of Lavrio, where an entire, fully operational powder magazine—the tank facilities of Hellenic Defense Systems—has remained active for years, what is happening? What will happen if the EAS tanks, filled with flammable and toxic chemical substances, explode—like napalm bombs—next to residential areas of Lavrio? There, too, as there was with the trains and the fatal Contract 717, as there is at airports with a tender that has been stuck since 2019 (and the FIR blackout occurred a few days ago), there is a tender to clean the Lavrio tanks—and along with it, the risk of the “holocaust” of an entire urban area. But it gets stuck somewhere, like everything else—guess where… It is an issue solely for Dendias, so let him look into it, so we don’t have any dramas.

National Bank: Entry into Saudi Arabia and restart of bancassurance
– National Bank is moving toward opening up to the markets of the Arab countries and is already running the relevant procedures. In this context, Andreas Kalis from Olayan Financing Company has joined the National Bank team as Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East region. National Bank is opening a Representative Office in Saudi Arabia with a focus on international syndicated loans, advisory services, and investment banking. The bank also appears to be seeking other people in this field, such as a head of syndicated loan origination, given that business opportunities are opening up in the region. As for the other front, that of bancassurance, it is considered almost certain that National Bank will announce—together with its 2025 results, expected at the end of February—its plans in insurance through banks. It is estimated that the announcement will concern NN Hellas in relation to health insurance, as well as a stake in the Greek arm of the multinational, along with another agreement concerning the non-life insurance sector. The bank must set up a rather different mechanism from the one currently existing in its network, because while it had the agreement with Ethniki Asfalistiki, the company had its own network of insurance agents running sales, with the bank playing a supporting role. Now sales will be based on the bank’s branches, which must drive sales themselves—a development that requires different organization, trained staff in branches, and strengthening of electronic sales.

Why GEK TERNA is flying
– Santander is not Jefferies, nor Wood; that is, it is not a brokerage firm. It is one of the largest European banks and, until now, had never dealt with the Greek stock market. It decided to do so now, with its recent 90-page report on GEK TERNA, which set a target price of €49 and sees the bottom of the stock at €30 and the top at €62. It is strange that Santander did not choose, for its debut in the Greek market, a stock from the MSCI Standard that generates large volumes and is more recognizable to analysts and funds. Even stranger is that so many reports have been issued on Greek stocks by reputable houses, but none so far has created such buying panic. GEK TERNA’s share went from €25.5 to €30 in three sessions, and this happened because there was real and strong buying interest. A professional who sees an opportunity in GEK TERNA and wants to accumulate, say, 2 million shares, breaks the order across different brokerages, sets limits, pauses, rotates the order so that it doesn’t appear there is a buyer, etc. In the case of GEK TERNA, someone—or some people—were buying as if there were no tomorrow, because they obviously consider the stock cheap at €30. Yes, indeed, GEK has the big advantage of concessions. This year we will see Egnatia operating, next year the airport, at the end of ’27–early ’28 the casino, around then the VOAK, etc. It is a business that is maturing and promises significant profits, but there does not seem to be any particular reason for haste for anyone who wants to invest. According to another scenario circulating in the market, it is possible that we will see GEK TERNA in the MSCI Standard in the upcoming review. In short, the column concludes that Santander’s report is probably just the tip of the iceberg, which showed the market that something big is happening at GEK TERNA. What it is, how long it will take to materialize, and similar questions—only G. Peristeris has the answers.

Komárek “locked in” the U.S. through PrizePicks
– A very important piece of Allwyn’s strategy has fallen into place. Karel Komárek’s group completed the acquisition of PrizePicks, the largest daily fantasy sports platform in the U.S., for $1.53 billion. The acquisition of 62.3% of the American company (the initial agreement was announced in September) creates conditions for faster development of new products, optimization of customer experience through data-driven approaches, and strengthening competitiveness in digital entertainment markets in a huge market such as the U.S., and beyond. The addition of PrizePicks to Allwyn’s portfolio is considered pivotal, as in addition to boosting the group’s figures by approximately €270 million, it allows the group to gain a presence in almost every U.S. state. As for the OPAP–Allwyn merger, it is proceeding according to plan, with the next key date being February 9, when the deadline expires for exercising or not the exit right by shareholders who voted against the proposal at the extraordinary general meeting on January 7. As the deadline approaches, estimates are growing that the percentage of dissenters will decrease, since the offered cash consideration of €19.04 per share is gross; off-market transfer rights and the applicable capital gains tax will be deducted from it, and payment will be made within one month of the entry into force of the cross-border conversion, which is calculated to occur by the end of the second quarter. At the same time, Allwyn continues to buy OPAP shares through the Athens Stock Exchange, although the price has declined significantly, to €17.87.

The new… billionaire
– He did not make the Forbes list, but the Karelia Tobacco Company deserves a mention, as it has entered the billionaires’ club (with a valuation of €1.004 billion). The share closed at €364, matching the historical record it had set in September 2023. It is noted that in the recent review for free-float adequacy, Karelia was granted an extension of six additional months, i.e. until June 30, to improve its free float.

Meetings for figures and plans in London
– Piraeus Bank announced its financial calendar for 2026 and specified the date on which it will publish its 2025 results. That date is February 26, and around then similar announcements are expected from the other systemic banks. In addition, one week later—specifically on March 5—it will hold an investor briefing event in London titled Capital Markets Day 2026, where the bank’s new strategic plans will be revealed, including a strong focus on “Ethniki Asfalistiki,” among other things. Piraeus Bank is, of course, not the only bank planning a Capital Markets Day in London. Alpha Bank is planning a similar investor day in the second quarter.

DEI’s next move in retail
– The DEI Group is currently valued on the Athens Stock Exchange at just over €8.5 billion and, based on management and analyst forecasts, the stock’s P/E ratio, using 2026 earnings, is just above 10. The Stassis management is determined to leverage the retail network it acquired with Kotsovolos and is therefore already in advanced talks for the acquisition of the Amoiridis–Savvidis chain. Market sources report that the price DEI is offering is around €60 million. Just nine months after completing the acquisition of “Kotsovolos” (April 2024, €200 million), DEI wants to complete the picture of its strategy to transform the group into an integrated energy ecosystem. Amoiridis–Savvidis S.A., based in Thessaloniki, is the exclusive distributor of Morris, F&U, United, and Miyato General. For the DEI Group, which already owns 97 Kotsovolos stores in Greece and Cyprus, the addition of Amoiridis brings something different: a strong presence in the B2B channel, a distribution network in regional markets, and expansion into the home appliances sector. The strategy is clear: combining electricity with appliances, cross-selling photovoltaics through stores, and, of course, promoting DEH Smart Home solutions. If the information is confirmed, the DEI Group will be the only utility organization in Greece with full vertical integration in electricals—from the power socket to the appliance plugged into it.

The smart game of Greek shipowners and how patience turns into gold
– In a shipping market that has long been oscillating between extreme conditions, Greek shipowners are discreetly making their presence felt, while the Korean giant Sinokor Maritime steals the spotlight. Sinokor’s stormy move to sign long-term charter agreements in recent weeks for 14 VLCC supertankers is being presented as a game changer. At the same time, the Greek strategy reveals a parallel reality. Major Greek groups are locking in long-term contracts that secure stable income and, perhaps more importantly, preserve bargaining power in a VLCC market that is suddenly heating up. One need only look at the three-year charter of the Maran Mars (300,000 dwt) of Maria Angelicoussis by Aramco Trading at $52,000 per day. This is a targeted, strategic placement by one of the most historic Greek names, securing steady revenues in a market that is now approaching almost $80,000 per day for modern VLCCs. Evalend Shipping of Kriton Lendoudis has also entered the high-risk game in a strategic way, as information says Trafigura is in the process of buying Evalend’s two VLCCs, Serendipity and Hunter (299,936 and 299,940 dwt respectively, built in 2021), at a fixed price of $125 million each. At the same time, Navios’s five-year charter agreement under Angeliki Frangou with Mitsui OSK Lines for the Nave Allegro at $44,000 per day follows the same playbook: Greek-owned ships deliver steady returns. Spectacular moves like Sinokor dominate the headlines, but the Greeks are playing a different, perhaps smarter game. In an era of extreme volatility, their strategy favors stable returns and negotiating power, while others chase impressions. In the corridors of Wall Street, they would call it risk-adjusted alpha.

The background to the attacks on Greek-owned ships
– In diplomatic circles, the two recent attacks on Greek-owned ships in the Black Sea are not being treated as simple low-intensity incidents, but as targeted actions with a clear power imprint. The prevailing interpretation is that the targets were not chosen at random. After all, other Greek ships have also been targets of terrorist actions, such as in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Ships of Greek interests are being selected—that is, ships from a shipping sector that controls approximately 61% of European and 21% of global tonnage. This scale makes Greek-owned shipping a critical link in the global transport chain and, at the same time, an ideal “pressure multiplier.” Behind the scenes, it is estimated that by targeting ships of Greek interests, the aim is to send a message not only to Greece, that the security of maritime trade routes cannot be taken for granted without active political and operational presence. As diplomatic circles point out, attacks of this type have limited military cost but significant political and economic impact. They affect insurance coverage, freight rates, routing choices, and ultimately international energy and trade stability. The same circles note that Greek-owned shipping, because it operates legally and outside sanctions regimes, lends itself to “gray” pressure without immediate international outcry. Athens, according to diplomatic sources, is seeking to use this situation to highlight a long-standing deficit: the absence of a unified maritime security strategy. Contacts at the level of the EU, international organizations, and shipping bodies are no longer limited to recording incidents, but are moving toward joint threat assessment and a possible institutional response. For Greek-owned shipping, what is at stake is not only the safety of its vessels, but its position as a key stabilizing factor in global trade. For this reason, there was an immediate response from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Shipping with meetings to chart a strategy, as well as an intervention by the Union of Greek Shipowners with a statement-message in all directions.

Agapitos brings a vessel to the Saronic Gulf
– We wrote about it on Friday as information, but over the weekend sources confirmed that Antonis Agapitos is bringing a second high-speed vessel to double up where Speed Cat I operates under the Alpha Lines flag. The name being heard is “ESCHILLO,” and he plans to bring it under tow from Italy. It was built in 2006. As things appear, interesting developments are coming to the Saronic Gulf in the upcoming tourist season. We shall see.

New records on the Stock Exchange
– In addition to the GEK TERNA record mentioned above, where the stock reached prices not seen since November 1999, the Athens International Airport (AIA) closed at a new all-time high, with the airport’s share consolidating above €11. New records were also achieved by Viohalco and Cenergy, reaching €12.26 and €17 respectively. On the other hand, Jumbo is trading at a nine-month low, with investors still trying to “digest” the reduction in the target price and the downgrade of the recommendation by Citi. Since the American firm’s report was published, the stock has fallen cumulatively by more than 5%, with the €26 support level now being questioned.

The unstoppable banks
– Banks are posting one of the strongest starts of recent years on the Athens Stock Exchange, having recorded gains of 14.3% in the first ten sessions of 2026. Eurobank is moving at highs of more than ten years, heading full speed toward €4 for the first time since early November 2015. Piraeus Bank broke through the “fortress” of €8 and is trading at levels last seen in March 2021. At the same time, Piraeus Bank became the fourth listed company with an 11-digit valuation, after Coca-Cola HBC, National Bank, and Eurobank, as its market capitalization now approaches €10 billion.

How cheap the Athens Stock Exchange is
– And since we mentioned the records at the ASE above, worldperatio.com (or World PE Ratio) is a specialized website that tracks and publishes Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratios of stock markets worldwide. It evaluates markets across different time frames (5, 10, 20 years) and categorizes them as “Fair,” “Overvalued,” “Expensive,” and “Undervalued.” In the latest table published by worldperatio.com, the New Zealand Stock Exchange flirts with a P/E of 30.04 and the U.S., at 27.07, is characterized as “expensive” across all time horizons. The Greek Stock Exchange, despite five consecutive bullish years, appears impressively cheap on a relative valuation basis. With a capitalization of €154.3 billion and P/E ratios among blue chips below 10, the Greek market is still trading at price levels that would be considered “fair,” even compared with also-labeled “fair” India (P/E 24.11). The Swiss Stock Exchange, with a P/E of 23.62, is considered overvalued on a five-year basis, while Australia, at 21.23, is considered “expensive.” In Greece, the banking sector, with its incredible triple-digit performance, offers ROE above 15%, good dividend yields, and a single-digit P/E of 8. All this in a period of major turbulence, during which all managers wake up and go to sleep with their “finger on the trigger.” After all, today, with Wall Street closed for Martin Luther King Day, it will be seen how European managers view the Athens Stock Exchange.

A familiar Portuguese vice president of the ECB
– Today’s Eurogroup meeting, under the presidency of Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, is expected to conclude with the name of the new Vice President of the ECB, as the term of Luis de Guindos expires in May. It appears that the vice presidency of the European Central Bank will not leave the Iberian Peninsula. Among the six candidates (Portugal – Mário Centeno, Latvia – Mārtiņš Kazāks, Estonia – Madis Müller, Finland – Olli Rehn, Lithuania – Rimantas Šadžius, Croatia – Boris Vujčić), information converges that the first, former finance minister and governor of Portugal’s central bank, Mário Centeno, has the greatest chances. The Spaniards hold the presidency of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French for one more year (until 2027) hold the leadership of the ECB—a position much desired by the Dutch with Klaas Knot and also by the Finns with the—very familiar to us—Olli Rehn.

Goldman Sachs arms itself (just in case) with a record issuance
– Goldman Sachs is laying its cards on the table with $16 billion. It is preparing to issue the largest bond offering in the history of Wall Street. Officially, Goldman Sachs states that it needs the money for liquidity, refinancing existing debt, and general corporate purposes. On the other hand, it is interesting that the “smartest bank on Wall Street” wants to lock in $16 billion at today’s spread levels and is not waiting for the lower interest rates constantly heralded by the POTUS and his associates. The fact is that bond yields in general are currently at high levels, but the credit spreads of banks with “A investment-grade” ratings remain relatively low. At a time when the Trump administration is announcing “deregulation,” Goldman, under Basel III, faces new capital requirements. For some reason—known only to GS analysts and management—the creation of a $16 billion safety buffer today was preferred over waiting until 2027. There is, of course, also the possibility that Goldman needs $16 billion to enter the dance of mergers and acquisitions.

A new face as a candidate for Fed chair
– Last Thursday, President Trump welcomed the very well-known BlackRock manager Rick Rieder to the White House. Rieder is Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Global Fixed Income at BlackRock and manages approximately $2.4 trillion in assets. After the White House meeting, it was revealed that RR is one of the four candidates on the final shortlist for the position of Chair of the Federal Reserve, as Jerome Powell’s term ends on May 15, 2025. Also present at Thursday’s meeting were Susie Wiles (chief of staff), Scott Bessent (Secretary of the Treasury), and Dan Scavino (deputy chief of staff). The fact that Trump is considering a top Wall Street executive—from the world’s largest asset management firm—for the leadership of the Fed has once again unsettled New York, which always has as a favorite topic of discussion—how to put it politely—the potential convergence between market interests and the monetary policy the Fed will follow after May.