The new Mitsotakis government in Athens on Friday continued to burnish its investor-friendly credentials, with Indo-Canadian billionaire investor Prem Watsa arriving on foot for a high-profile meeting at the Maximos Mansion government seat with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and following meetings with top ministers.
Watsa’s Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings has been a long-time investor in the thrice-recapitalized Greek systemic banking system.
In a later “spin” to emerge from the meeting, sources claimed Watsa expressed a view that “if you continue as you’ve started, Greece will be a different country”.
Sources close to the Canadian investor said he was briefed on a reform program that the new center-right government will push through, the sequencing of coming legislative initiatives and other priorities of the new government.
Other “leaks” from the Watsa delegation’s contacts in Athens referred to an interest in the local insurance market – with National Bank’s insurance subsidiary, Ethniki Asfalistiki, still on the selling block – as well as Greece’s recently resuscitated real estate sector and tourism-related investment.
