With investment funds of €300 million euros, which aim to increase, and with investments—in the first phase—within the borders and primarily in green infrastructure, the National Investment Fund is starting from the beginning, as announced today by the Managing Director of the Growth Fund, Grigoris Dimitriadis, speaking at a conference at the pavilion of the institution at the 88th Thessaloniki International Fair.

"The new fund is starting with €300 million, and (...) then its capacity to invest larger amounts will increase." We are starting mainly with green infrastructure and together with our partners, which is BlackRock, we are currently monitoring other sectors, which would be worth focusing on at the beginning. The crucial thing in the first phase is to make some serious, proper investments and to show mainly abroad, because that is where we will be judged, that we are reliable partners (...) so that (foreigners) come to participate in the opportunities we have identified (...) In the first phase we will invest within the borders, because in Greece we have an investment gap and our priority is to fill it, but obviously we will also cooperate with other countries," explained Mr. Dimitriadis, noting that the fund will meet all the conditions that will make it a reliable partner in the international market: transparency, proper corporate governance principles, and specific procedures.

"(With its operation) we will become a more credible country for attracting investors," he said, noting that similar funds exist everywhere. For example, when the similar fund, "Temasek," started operating in Singapore, using revenues from the country's telecommunications, the island state still looked like a swamp, but then, thanks to Temasek's investments that attracted foreign capital to the country, it experienced rapid growth. Similarly, in Spain, the Confides sovereign wealth fund currently manages billions of euros, with which it invests in the Spanish economy, on the basis of the model now beginning to be applied in Greece, i.e. by acquiring minority stakes (in companies) and attracting foreign counterpart funds and institutional investors to the country. In simple terms, as has already been done in Singapore or Spain, the investment arm that, under the new law of the Ministry of Finance, the Superfund is acquiring in the form of a subsidiary is expected to work positively in attracting more foreign investment in Greece. And this at a time when the country has regained its investment grade and large funds, e.g., the Norwegians or pension funds of Canada, want to invest here and need a reliable partner.

This does not mean, however, that the role of the Fund, in the context of its transformation, will be confined to the investment arm. "There is a public sector property, various companies such as ELTA, ETAD which owns the real estate and the central markets of Athens and Thessaloniki, OKA and KATH. The public companies that the GrowthFund has in its portfolio, the aim is to improve them, to offer better services to citizens, to have a better environmental footprint, and to be financially sound, so that instead of charging the Greek taxpayer, they are also profitable. On the other hand, we have the investment arm, which will make investments in the Greek economy by entering (companies) with a percentage and thus attracting foreign investors. So we have the Growthfund, which on the one hand will have public companies much more orderly, which will proceed properly, and on the other hand will be able to make investments of a catalytic nature in critical sectors of the economy, with the profits and revenues it will have," summarized.