Christos Christou The sovereign debt crisis in Greece has resulted in an unprecedented plunge of the GDP by 25%, whereas prices in the local real-estate market have fallen as much as 50% since the crisis hit the country at the end of 2008. As a result, huge investment opportunities have arisen, as both the Greek state and the private sector are trying to liquidate as many assets as possible in order to repay their debts. Still, until recently, foreign investors were reluctant to enter an ill-performing economy, despite the impressive adjustment fiscal programme implemented by the Greek Government and the sweeping structural reforms adopted during the last years, which resulted in a public finance surplus for the first time since Greece joined the eurozone in 2002. One of the main reasons for this was the unfavourable taxation status for real estate investments. Two very interesting recent deals, however, show that the country is again open for business. Canadian Fairfax Financial Holdings invested €200 million ($272 million) within the last year in EFG Eurobank Properties, raising their share from 5.7% to 42%. Prem Watsa, Fairfax's CEO, called the deal "a vote of confidence to the prospects of the Greek economy". A few weeks ago, Dutch private equity Invel Real Estate and BGS Real Estate of the Israeli diamond mogul Beny Steinmetz announced a joint purchase of 66% of Pangea real estate investment company (REIC), Ethniki Bank's real estate unit for €653 million, "betting on a recovery in the country's economy". Both deals have one thing in common: they both relate to an investment in a Greek REIC and this should be no surprise.
