MARINAKIS
Evangelos

• 1. Career
• 1.1. Shipping
• 1.2. Political career
• 1.3. Sports
• 1.4. Media
• 1.5. Awards and distinctions

Evangelos Marinakis is a Greek media mogul, shipowner, lyricist and member of the Piraeus city council. He is the founder and owner of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp and also the owner of the football clubs Olympiacos in Greece and Nottingham Forest in England.

Career

Shipping

Marinakis is the founder and chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp.

In July 2023 Tradewinds hailed Capital Group’s 'green revolution' as Marinakis has spent $6.5bn on energy transition fleet which includes world’s pioneering largest liquefied CO2 (LCO2) carriers. “Marinakis said LNG can deliver with certainty a significant reduction of CO2 emissions immediately with a tested propulsion technology, abundant fuel and the infrastructure to access it. He commented that while other alternative fuels will surely play a role in the future, waiting until the technology is mature and/or the fuel is available in the required quantities globally could mean losing years if not decades on the path to decarbonisation.”

In September 2023 Capital together with Idan Offer’s Eastern Pacific Pte Ltd (EPS) placed an order with KSOE for the world’s first “giant ammonia carriers” (VLACs Very Large Ammonia Carriers) with carrying capacity 88,000 cbm.

According to Lloyd’s List, in November 2022, “his Capital Group controlled nearly 100 vessels, exceeding 10.5m dwt and valued at about $US9 billion. During 2021 and the first 10 months of 2022, it was involved in 75 transactions worth $US5.5 billion. The 47 vessel acquisitions among these … could overwhelmingly be classed as investments in greener ships… In the past couple of years, Mr Marinakis’s biggest investment has been in the LNG sector, with a total of 14 174,000 cbm newbuildings ordered at Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Samho”.

In October 2021 on the occasion of the listing of CPLP’s first bond on the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) he said that “we have been engaged with financial markets since 2007 when we were first listed in New York at the Nasdaq stock exchange. Since then we have paid more than $800 million in dividends to our investors”.

A second ATHEX public offering by CPLP of €100 million also generated impressive demand by Greek investors. The issue was oversubscribed 3.6 times, with offers reaching €360 million.

The Capital Maritime Group which is controlled by the Marinakis family, managed a mixed fleet of more than 70 ships in 2017, including tankers, container ships and dry bulk carriers. Capital Group entered the LNG segment in 2018, ordering up to 10 LNG ships of a total value of US$1.8 billion.

From March 2010 until September 2011, Marinakis also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NYSE-listed Crude Carriers Corp. Between March 2007 and December 2014 he was chairman of Capital Product Partners L.P. (NASDAQ:CPLP). In November 2018, Capital Product Partners L.P. announced the merger of its tanker fleet with DSS Holdings, whose largest shareholder is WL Ross & Co., thus creating one of the biggest listed tanker companies in the world, in a transaction valued at $1.65bn.

From 1992 to 2005, Marinakis was the commercial manager of Capital Ship Management Corp. and oversaw the businesses of the group of companies that now form Capital Maritime. For the past decades, he has also been active in several other family-controlled businesses all related to the shipping industry.

Political career

In May 2014, Marinakis was elected first member of the Piraeus city council with the Piraeus Winner independent ticket, that he co-founded with Yannis Moralis, vice-president of Olympiacos F.C. Among their pledges were the preservation of the public nature of Piraeus Port Authority and the development of Piraeus as Europe's largest cruise ship destination and home port.

In May 2019 Marinakis was re-elected first member of the Piraeus city council with the Piraeus Winner independent led by mayor Yannis Moralis.  

Sports

Since mid-2010 Marinakis has owned Piraeus' hometown team Olympiacos, and serves as its president. During his presidency of Olympiacos, the team won the Greek League title for seven consecutive seasons from 2010–11 to 2016–17, 2020 to 2022 and the National Cup for the 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15 and 2020 seasons.

Marinakis served as president of the Superleague Greece and vice-president of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) from August 2010 until September 2011. Additionally, during the summer of 2022 he was elected as president of Superleague Greece for the second time serving as vice-president of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF).

In May 2017, it was announced that Marinakis had completed a transaction to become the majority shareholder in English Championship club and former double European Cup winners Nottingham Forest.

Following his takeover of Forest, Marinakis aimed for the club to qualify for Europe within five years, as well as having a redeveloped stadium and training ground. Although Forest have announced £50 million plans to redevelop to the City Ground and the Nigel Doughty Academy, On 29 May 2022, Forest won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years.

Media

In September 2016, Marinakis, through his company Alter Ego Media S.A., won one of four national television licences auctioned in Greece after spending €73.9 million in a highly unusual competitive bidding process. The licence was however revoked on 26 October 2016 since the Greek Council of State held that the TV license law of Minister of State Nikos Pappas was unconstitutional.

In July 2017, Alter Ego was confirmed by a Greek first-instance court as the acquirer of the Lambrakis Press Group (DOL). The court approval for the transfer ownership of DOL to Alter Ego followed the latter's success as the highest bidder in an auction process held earlier in 2017. The court ratified the sale and granted a request by DOL staff that the auction procedure be accepted as valid. The completion of the transfer of ownership was also supported by trade unions representing DOL staff. DOL is one of Greece's historic major media groups and includes the top selling Ta Nea and To Vima newspapers, two of the country's oldest dailies, as well as a popular news portal, magazines and radio station. As of March 2018 the agreement for DOL has not yet been approved by the Competition Committee. It also holds a 22% stake in Mega Channel TV station.

In February 2021, Marinakis wrote the lyrics of the hit song 'Excitement' ('Eksapsi') by Greek pop star Natassa Theodoridou. Following the songs release, the song reached one million views on YouTube within the first six days.

In 2022 he was elected president of Super League Greece.

Awards and distinctions

Having "grown his shipping empire from the small company he took over from his father, which controlled seven bulk carriers", he is regarded as one of the most important and influential shipping personalities worldwide. He was included in the Lloyd's List "One Hundred Most Influential People in the Shipping Industry" list, ranking 41st in 2022, 47th in 2021, 59th in 2020, 2019 and 2018, 66th in 2017, 61st in 2016, 65th in 2015, 67th in 2014, 73rd in 2013, 84th in 2012, 84th in 2011, and 88th in 2010. He was also included in the TradeWinds "Power 100" list of the ‘top shipowners and operators", ranking 31st in 2012 and 75th in 2010. In 2014 and 2010 he was awarded the "Newsmaker of the Year" award at the annual Lloyd's List "Greek Shipping Awards", while in 2009 his company, Capital Ship Management Corp. was awarded the "Tanker Company of the Year" award. In 2016, he was awarded the first ever "Xenakoudis Excellence in Shipping Award" by the International Registries, Inc./The Marshall Islands Registry. In November 2017, Marinakis received the Lloyd's List "Greek Shipping Personality of the Year" Award at a special ceremony in Athens. Nigel Lowry of Lloyd's List said Marinakis was the "outstanding candidate" for the award and noted his $1 billion investment in fleet capacity in 2017, his "dynamic dealmaking" in the shipping sector, as well as a range of other activities across philanthropy, sports and media.

In 2022 he received the Tanker Shipping & Trade Industry Leader award and in 2023 he received the awards "Deal of the Decade (2014 - 2023)" and "The 20 Years Achievment Award" by Lloyd's List Greek Shipping Awards.