Greece’s Sklavenitis to buy Marinopoulos, Carrefour Cyprus owner, for €125m

Greece’s retail group Marinopoulos S.A., owner of Cyprus’s retail chain Carrefour, is awaiting the approval of a rescue plan by the board of directors of two banks which includes its takeover by the Greek retail group Sklavenitis, the Greek website insider.gr reported on Thursday without citing its source.

Marinopoulos’s rescue plan, made necessary after the company applied for protection from its creditors two months ago, provides for the extension of a €360m loan at an interest rate of 1.5 per cent by a group of banks that includes the National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank, Eurobank and Alpha Bank, insider.gr reported. The banks have an option to buy a 25 per cent stake in the company. Sklavenitis will pay €125m for the acquisition.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.