Cosmote said it surpassed 3 million subscribers in Romania, beating a full-year target announced just a week ago. Cosmote has added more new customers than local competitors including Vodafone Group Plc and France Telecom SA for the past three quarters, according to an e-mailed statement from the company. The Romanian unit is expected to be profitable on a net level in 2009, according to the statement. Athens-based Cosmote is expanding its network in the country of 22 million inhabitants and adding more stores to win new customers. Together, Vodafone and France Telecom have almost 17 million clients in Romania. Cosmote, Greece’s biggest mobile-phone company by users, owns a 70 percent stake in its Romanian unit, and Romtelecom SA, the country’s former phone monopoly, owns the rest. Both companies are majority-owned by Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA, Greece’s biggest phone company. (Bloomberg)

Piraeus Port Authority, Greece’s biggest port, said London-based hedge fund Lansdowne Partners LP became its largest investor after the government. Lansdowne notified Piraeus Port on September 28 it controls 2.4 million shares, corresponding to a 9.7 percent stake, the Piraeus-based company said today in a bourse filing. Morgan Stanley last month sold a 9.5 percent stake in the company, Piraeus said in a September 28 bourse filing without identifying the buyer. Morgan Stanley bought a 19 percent stake from Lansdowne last year. (Bloomberg)

Marfin Investment Group SA, Southeast Europe’s biggest buyout fund, will join the FTSE/ASE index of Greece’s 20 biggest companies on December 3, the Greek stock exchange said. Marfin Invest, which has a market value of 5.4 billion euros, will replace Emporiki Bank of Greece, the Greek unit of France’s Credit Agricole. The changes are part of a semi-annual review of the index. The FTSE/ASE index consists of the 20 largest and most traded stocks on the Athens Exchange. (Bloomberg)

Industrial production in Cyprus rose 3.4 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of the year, compared with a 0.4 percent decrease in the corresponding period of 2006, the statistics department said yesterday. Industrial production in August alone rose 3.1 percent year-on-year, versus an originally reported figure of 7.4 percent for July. (Reuters)

Dry-bulk carrier Navios Maritime Holdings Inc beat Wall Street’s view with third-quarter earnings that more than doubled, boosted by an increase in operating days and higher daily hire rates, sending shares to a new year-high. Navios earned $36.5 million in the current quarter, compared with $16.9 million in the year-ago period. Revenue saw a more than fourfold jump to $212.9 million. (Reuters)