Insurance companies, television, banks, health companies, airlines, shipping, cinemas, retail, football and even organic farming were some of the aspects of the labyrinthine billion-dollar business empire built by the multifaceted Dimitris Kontominas.
The acerbic businessman passed away today at the age of 83.
From Sepolia
Born on June 3, 1939, he was a typical case of a self-made entrepreneur. Starting from a popular neighborhood in the center of Athens, Sepolia, he became known as "Mr. Interamerican."
Although he entered the insurance business by accident, he founded Interamerican, the first pure life insurance company in Greece, together with insurance patriarch Alexandros Tambouras in January 1969.
Studying on a scholarship at the American University of Beirut in the 1960s to make ends meet, he translated insurance policies. He discovered through this process that the job suited him and decided to go into insurance professionally, eventually reaching the top.
Two years after the 1986 stock market crisis, he founded Intertrust AEDAK, the first private fund management company, which also shook things up.
In the early 1990s, further developing Interamerican (Interamerican Health, Interamerican Cards and Interamerican Road Protection), he acquired a 5% stake in Stet, having foreseen the growth prospects of the sector in good time, and entered the Cyprus market.
In 1994, by acquiring the French state insurance company UAP's (now part of AXA) stake in Interamerican (the French held 40%), he sold Interbank, which he had created with UAP, to the then newly created Eurobank of the Latsis group.
Health services
Another of his much-discussed business initiatives was the creation of Medi-system through which he provided integrated secondary health services. At the same time, he founded the Athens Euroclinic, but his plan to provide patient transport with his own company (he had also bought helicopters) did not come to fruition.
Football
In 1998 Dimitris Kontominas became a major shareholder of the Aris team. His presence in the football team of Thessaloniki created many expectations for an improvement of its competitive image, which were not fulfilled in the end. Kontominas left Aris in 2001 and the majority stake was passed on to Greek-American businessman Yannis Zahoudanis.
Right timing and golden deals
Subsequently, the resourceful businessman's business expanded into entertainment, technology, tourism and real estate development. Not all his business ventures were successful, however.
The flop he made with Interamerican's IPO in the summer of 1999 (the IPO was covered 80 times) and the sale of 55% of Interamerican to the Dutch Eureko in 2001 more than made up for the losses. From the transaction with the Dutch alone, the entrepreneur pocketed around €1 billion.
Meanwhile, in cooperation with the Portuguese bank Banco Comercial Portuges, he had founded NovaBank (later Millennium, which in 2013 was acquired and absorbed by Piraeus Bank).
In early 2005, the acquisition of 100% of Novabank's shares by the Portuguese group Millennium BCP (Banco Commercial Portugues), until then owner of 50% of the bank, was announced, as the owner of the remaining 50%, Dimitris Kontominas, sold his stake for 330 million euros. Within 4 years, the sale of Interamerican and Novabank alone generated cash and shares of EUR 1.3 billion.
In 2005 he left Interamerican after securing the company's strategic partnership with the insurance giant Achmea (formerly Eureko).
In 2005 he left Interamerican after securing the company's strategic partnership with the insurance giant Achmea (formerly Eureko). He has since returned to the insurance market through the creation in Cyprus and Greece of Prime Insurance and My Direct, an online insurance provider.
He then became involved with ALPHA TV station, which he bought, resold to the Germans at RTL and reacquired. His daughter Maria then sold it again to the Vardinoyannis family.
In 2009 he acquired Village Roadshow Operations and Village Films, the Greek subsidiaries of the Australian entertainment giant Village Roadshow.
Trouble with the law and a vast fortune
He first approached the Public Prosecutor's Office in 2005 following reports in the newspaper Avriani. In its complaint, the newspaper spoke of expatriates being defrauded by Interamerican's investment insurance policies when the company was in the hands of the businessman. Three years later, he was prosecuted for embezzlement, forgery and extortion.
Finally, in 2009, he was acquitted of charges pending against him for illegally raising funds from Greek-Germans for investment purposes and for allegations against him of stock shortages at Interamerican.
He was also charged in the 2014 Postal Savings Bank bad loan case. He was banned from leaving the country, while at the same time he was being treated in a private clinic and denied everything.
In addition, in April 2020, his tax case was barred by the Council of State due to the expiration of five years.
His name was also mentioned in the Lagarde List, for which he was even invited and testified to the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry, where he was viciously attacked by -members of Parliament at the time- Kasidiaris and Nikolopoulos, but in the end, and after an audit, nothing much had emerged.
As for his immense fortune, in less than two decades, as judged by the market, it has probably shrunk to a great extent.
Great philanthropic work
A lover of theatre, old cars, watches, rare books and works of art, Dimitris Kontominas was proclaimed "Archon Grand Protector of the Ecumenical Throne" by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and "Great Benefactor" by the Great and Gerontological Metropolis of Chalcedon.
Source: in.gr
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