Super Salesman
Dimitris Paraskevas, the unflappable lawyer who runs the privatisation unit at Greece’s development ministry, is looking for a new job.
After nearly three years of trying he’s just sold Athens Paper Mills to a bunch of international investors for over $100m. a sizeable whack for a near-bankrupt producer of toilet rolls. What’s more, he’s talked them into keeping all 1,300 workers – at least for a while. No wonder Paraskevas is popular with his political bosses.
Trouble is, there’s nothing left to sell. Paraskevas is shutting up shop after unloading all 60 companies in the ministry portfolio. Most, he says were “wrecks” after being run by friends of the governing Socialist party. But did that stop him lining up buyers? Of course not.
Financial Times
June 4, 1999.