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Muso
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Joined: 22 Oct 2002
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Location: The Holy city of Honolulu
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 Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:28 pm Post subject: Greece's Biggest Company Quits Country |
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Greece's Biggest Company Quits Country
| Quote: | Greece's biggest company is leaving the country, drinks bottler Coca Cola Hellenic (CCH) said on Thursday in announcing it will move to Switzerland and list its shares in London, dealing a blow to the debt-crippled Greek economy.
The material impact on Greece may be limited — its Greek plants will go on working and CCH said the five percent of its business that the world's second-ranked Coke bottler has in Greece will be unaffected. But analysts quickly saw it as bad news for a nation struggling to compete inside the euro zone.
CCH, which already has secondary stock market listings in London and New York [CCH 20.35 -0.71 (-3.37%) ], said in a bourse filing in Athens that shareholders, most of whom are abroad, will exchange all their stock for shares in Coca Cola HBC, based in Switzerland. That stock will have its primary quote in London [CCB.L 14.6894 --- UNCH ].
"A primary listing on Europe's biggest and most liquid stock exchange reflects better the international character of Coca Cola Hellenic's business activities and shareholder base," the company said in its regulatory statement.
The firm, in which The Coca-Cola Company [COKE 69.27 0.61 (+0.89%) ] of the United States has a 23-percent stake, bottles Coke and other drinks in 28 countries from Russia to Nigeria. About 95 percent of its shareholders and business activity are outside Greece.
"This transaction makes clear business sense," chief executive Dimitris Lois told analysts in a conference call. An overwhelming majority of shareholders have already accepted moving a company which has long complained about Greek taxes.
Analyst Manos Hatzidakis of Beta Securities in Athens said that the move made sense for the firm, which follows Greek dairy group FAGE this month in seeking a low-tax, low-volatility haven for its corporate base — in FAGE's case Luxembourg.
"The Greek bourse is losing a very good company and the London Stock Exchange is gaining a very important group," said Hatzidakis. "It's very bad news for the Greek economy and bourse."
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Continues in TFA
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BoneKracker
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Joined: 14 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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If Europe had only listened to Obama, none of this would be happening.
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juniper
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Joined: 22 Oct 2004
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Location: EU
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:32 am Post subject: |
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| i can't see a way out of this except leaving the euro. essentially, that reduces all debts and assets to the lower valued drachma. |
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wildhorse
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
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Location: Estados Unidos De América
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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95% of that corporation has no connection to Greece and the principal investor is a bloodsucker from the USA. Looks like an usurious (read usarious) trade corporation leaving a tax haven. Great article, Muso.  |
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John-Boy
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Location: Desperately seeking Moksha in all the wrong places
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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| juniper wrote: | | i can't see a way out of this except leaving the euro. essentially, that reduces all debts and assets to the lower valued drachma. |
That's what some have been saying for a good while.
Only we've been ignored whilst more and more funding is pumped into a lost cause.
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wildhorse
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
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Location: Estados Unidos De América
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| juniper wrote: | | i can't see a way out of this except leaving the euro. essentially, that reduces all debts and assets to the lower valued drachma. |
The debts would still have to be paid back in Euros (or US dollars). It would not do Greece any good to devalue a new Greek drachma.
A few years ago I wrote that the only way out for Greece would be national bankruptcy. It could have been done a long time ago. Instead lots of time and money was wasted. All attempts were to no avail. Things got only worse.
We still need to go after Goldman Sachs. |
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John-Boy
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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| wildhorse wrote: | | Things got only worse. |
It's also infected other EU states, Italy looks wobbly - Spain has been downgraded again, Portugal.
A firewall should have been built around Greece at the start.
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wildhorse
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Joined: 16 Mar 2006
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Location: Estados Unidos De América
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't think that any EU state was infected by Greece. National debt is a stitch-up. Nothing has changed. |
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