Minoan Group has a long-standing project for a luxury leisure, villa and holiday complex in Cavo Sidero in Eastern Crete.
Recent events, notably Greece's switch to a more business-friendly administration after its General Election last weekend, continue to shift the prevailing political and economic winds in Minoan's favour. This result followed the swing to the right in the Regional, Municipal, and European elections in May.
We now see the backdrop to Minoan's plans as more stable, because of changes to various external factors:
- An improved political backdrop for business and investment post the various election victories by the more business-friendly New Democracy party
- More receptive international capital markets, particularly since the start of this year, reflected in a current record low yield on benchmark 10-year Greek government bonds (matching that of the US 10-year Treasury at just over 2%)
- The recent performance and relatively stable outlook for Greece's economy. That has been mirrored in the performance of local hotel investment and development markets, and the outlook for tourism generally.
To recap, the previous Syriza government approved the group's scheme in Crete in 2016, with all appeals cleared in 2017. That followed various approvals from all previous governments. This provided the green light for a projected 250m hotel, residential and leisure development.
However, the current equity valuation reflects the group's long-running negotiations over legal and political issues during a 25-year period, as well as the risks inherent in financing and delivering a substantial scheme. Nevertheless, it appears to discount much of the potential upside when the project begins to be realised.
