The Sunday Times has profiled Greek businessman Evangelos Mytilineos, who is about to attempt one of the largest IPOs on the London Stock Exchange.
The profile, titled “The Greek mining tycoon floating his £4bn empire in London,” recounts how Mytilineos was persuaded, reluctantly, to change the name of his conglomerate to Metlen, a mashup of metals and energy, because his advisers thought that “Mytilineos” was a mouthful for international investors. Mytilineos told the Sunday Times that the Metlen group will enter the UK’s retail electricity market shortly after its IPO.
The UK, where the group has contracts worth £2.15 billion is one of the biggest markets for the group. Earlier this year, it signed a £1 billion contract “to build parts of a sub-sea cable link from Scotland to Durham that will carry enough renewable energy to power two million homes,” the UK paper writes.
The relisting of Metlen will mean that 90% of its shares will be traded on the LSE, while the remaining 10% will be traded on the Athens Stock Exchange. “The relisting will also require Metlen to be squeaky clean with regulators. In 2018, Mytilineos was accused of corruption over allegations that his company paid authorities to secure a contract. He was acquitted the following year and the case thrown out. The chief executive reveals that Metlen is now compliant with 80 percent of the UK’s corporate code,” the paper said
