The CEO and chairman of the Mytilineos industrial group, Evangelos Mytilineos, this week dismissed heightened media speculation that his company’s headquarters would transfer outside Greece in order to solely list its shares on another European stock market, instead citing the prospect of a “dual listing”.
Mytilineos spoke in Athens during the “Greece Meta VII” conference, organized by the local think tank “Kyklos Ideon (circle of ideas).
Shares of the metals, energy and industrial group currently trade on the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX), while its activities span 30 countries.
“There’s a difference between switching one’s listing to a different stock exchange and engaging in a dual listing, as Coca-Cola did, than actually leaving the country,” he said, in fielding questions by the press and audience.
“This move should not be misunderstood; both the state and market authorities should be pleased to see Greece-based companies thriving globally and proudly displaying the Greek flag wherever they operate. It doesn’t mean anybody is abandoning the country… we are doing the right thing, we pay our taxes here, which are by no means insignificant and we choose to stay in our country,” he added.
Beyond his industrial group, he said political stability now prevalent in the east Mediterranean country poses an excellent and important opportunity to take necessary reforms for continued growth.
