Angelicoussis Group has no intention of returning to the public sphere, according to its chief executive Maria Angelicoussis.
The group had a public listing in the early 2000s before going private again.
Asked at the FT Global Commodities Summit whether the Greek shipowning company had reconsidered a stock exchange float, Angelicoussis responded: “My grandfather made this company public. It was one of the first Greek companies to go public, but my father privatised it again.”
“I had a lot of teachings about how difficult it was, how challenging, to privatise it again,” she added.
The CEO explained that the group has looked at several options over the years.
“But we’ve never really felt the need to do it,” she said. “There are huge advantages for us in being private. We can be nimble, we can make decisions, we don’t have shareholders.”
The group acts as a public company in terms of corporate governance, Angelicoussis stressed.
“But in terms of swift decision-making we have an advantage there,” she added.
The CEO has previously said the company has been fortunate not to need financing through a public listing.
One-stop shop
And she explained the importance of keeping all aspects of shipping in-house.
“The company was created as an umbrella company for everything to do with shipping. We design the ships, we build them with the yards, we crew them, we operate them, we do technical management, we fix them out,” Angelicoussis said.
“There is a big advantage to understanding your ships, having all these departments under one roof,” she added.
The CEO also believes this provides charterers with the very best service.
