Prem Watsa seems to… love Greece. After all, the Canadian “Warren Buffett”, as many in the market call him, has a history of significant investments in the listed companies (and not only) of the Athens Stock Exchange.
And the main asset may concern the share position in Eurobank, but equally important should be considered the investment in Metlen, which has been “running” for more than 12 years.
The billionaire, who was born in India and then sought his fortune in the West in the ’70s, began to “build” a relationship of trust with the Evangelos Mytilineos Group at the beginning of the previous decade.
In fact, in October 2013, despite the deep economic crisis, Watsa, who manages an empire worth 32 billion dollars (Fairfax’s valuation on the Toronto Stock Exchange), bought more than 4 million shares of the Greek company for 5.13 euros/share.
Nine years later, the time came for the founder and head of Fairfax to renew his oaths of… loyalty to the then Mytilineos – now Metlen, acquiring an additional 2.7 million shares worth 50 million euros (18.5 euros/share).
At the same time, he signed a convertible bond of 50 million euros, which just 1.5 months ago gave Watsa the right to buy another 2.5 million shares for 20 euros/share.
On Monday, he announced the third step of this long and successful cooperation, which is related to the signing of a new convertible bond, amounting to 110 million euros, with which the Canadian investor will have the right to acquire 2.75 million shares at a price of 40 euros/share.
All this will make Prem Watsa by far the No. 2 shareholder of the listed company, controlling 8.35% or 11.9 million shares. Based on the latest share price on the board, this is a stake valued at approximately half a billion euros.
Not bad for the 74-year-old billionaire, who sees Evangelos Mytilineos as a reliable partner. And this becomes even more important if we take into account the prospect of Metlen’s entry into the London Stock Exchange, as well as the company’s promising expansion into the Energy, Critical Raw Materials and Defense sectors.
