Four of Greece’s most prominent businessmen are set to become shareholders in Capital Maritime Finance Corp., committing a combined €70 million ($81 million) as cornerstone investors in the shipping company’s planned initial public offering in Athens.
The investors—Giannis Vardinogiannis, Socrates Kokkalis, Evangelos Mytilineos and George Peristeris—would collectively own about 6.77% of Capital Maritime Finance, or CMF, under the IPO’s base-case scenario. CMF is controlled by Greek shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis.
Greece’s capital-markets regulator has approved the offering, which is targeting €250 million at an assumed maximum price of €7.84 a share. At that price, the cornerstone commitments would buy roughly 8.93 million newly issued shares, representing 28% of the targeted proceeds and giving the offering a substantial pool of committed capital before broader investor orders are allocated.
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Mytilineos and Kokkalis are expected to make the largest individual investments, committing €20 million each, according to people familiar with the allocations. Each would emerge with a stake of about 1.93% following the capital increase. Vardinogiannis and Peristeris are expected to invest €15 million each, giving them stakes of roughly 1.45% apiece.
None would approach the 5% ownership threshold. The prospectus assumes that no new shareholder, including any individual cornerstone investor, will acquire 5% or more of CMF.
Under the base case, CMF would issue about 31.9 million new shares, lifting its total share count to roughly 131.9 million. CMTC, the Marinakis-controlled shareholder, would retain its existing 100 million shares, reducing its ownership from 100% to about 75.82%.
After the cornerstone allocation, around 23 million new shares would remain available to other investors. At least 30% of that pool, or roughly 6.9 million shares, is earmarked for retail investors. The remainder can be allocated between retail and institutional investors depending on demand and the need to achieve sufficient free float.
The offering would leave approximately 24.18% of CMF’s shares in public hands under the base-case assumptions, including the cornerstone investors’ 6.77% stake.
The final ownership structure could change depending on the IPO price established through book building, total proceeds and investor demand. The public offering is scheduled for Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, with pricing and allocations expected on the final day. Trading is scheduled to begin Oct. 20.
The transaction is expected to cost CMF about €10.7 million if it raises €250 million, leaving net proceeds of roughly €239.3 million.
Most of that money is earmarked to help finance payments for new vessels under construction that will be acquired by existing CMF subsidiaries, with any remaining funds available for working capital. The company expects to deploy the proceeds within 24 months.
Should gross proceeds exceed €250 million, additional funds—up to a maximum offering size of €300 million—could be used for general corporate purposes, including partially repaying existing debt.
