Hyperfund mired in trouble
EESYP has failed to deliver on its purpose of streamlining companies that the state controls
It was decided that the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (EESYP), widely known as Hyperfund, was to be established in August 2015 as part of the agreement with the country’s European lenders for the 86-billion-euro loans of the third bailout agreement.
In practice, it constituted a portfolio of guarantees for the country’s official creditors, which included the participations in the then recapitalized Greek banks, the assets of the state asset privatization fund (TAIPED) which had been established a few years earlier, as well as the Public Real Estate Company (ETAD) and the state holdings in large listed and non-listed companies. It was finally established in 2016.
Although many spoke then of mortgaging public property, those with the best intentions believed that the strict corporate governance rules provided for in its founding law would help on the one hand to restructure troubled enterprises and on the other hand wean state-owned groups from party and political patronage, putting an end to the continuous interventions of the respective supervising minister in the decisions of their administrations.
Today, almost eight years later, there is not even a reliable independent valuation of the value of the Hyperfund’s portfolio. With the exception of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund – which remained under the supervision of the European Central Bank and the other European banking supervisory authorities – and TAIPED, whose task is privatizations and concessions, many of the companies where the Hyperfund exercises direct supervision are in a dire economic situation. That is the case with Hellenic Post (ELTA), ETAD, the Phaistos investment fund and several other entities controlled by the Hyperfund.
The current administration of the Hyperfund assumed its duties at the beginning of 2021 – i.e. three years ago. A representative of the Hyperfund told Kathimerini that the company is awaiting the new strategic directions of its sole shareholder, that is, the state.
