Gold Magazine November - December 2013, Issue 32 | Page 79

G

eorge Mountis, regional partner of The
Parthenon Partners & Co., is almost
apologetic when he admits that the firm has
seen its business – especially local business
– “grow and grow since March” and he is
quick to point out that he and his team
strongly advise clients to invest in tangible
assets, i.e. in real estate or companies: “We
have a client who used to have €30-€40
million in cash in one of the Cypriot banks
and he is buying 25% of a shipping company. He wants to invest and obviously
the return will be much higher than the
interest rates offered by the banks.”
These days, many of the firm’s clients
tend to be companies in distress, including
large and small banks with complicated
structures that wish to find solutions. The
majority of them are not based in Cyprus
but, says Mountis, “In Cyprus we have
private individuals and corporates such as
developers, shipping companies and private
hospitals that are in need of banking advisory and, at the same time, experiencing
problems with their banks for restructuring,
debt negotiation or valuation.” One of the
firm’s strong points, he believes, is its corporate finance valuations. “We have done
quite a few for some of the smaller Russian
banks and some local banks based in Cyprus,” he notes.
Most companies like The Parthenon
Partners will say the same things if you ask
them what makes them unique. But George
Mountis truly believes that he is offering
services that no other firm in Cyprus does.
So what are they? “Obviously we are not
like a Big 4 accounting firm and we are

not saying that we have an army of people
serving you,” he acknowledges. “We are a
very small boutique investment advisory
firm and essentially you outsource us and
we become part of your team as your banking and financial advisor.” When he says
“we become part of your team,” he means
it. “We literally move into your head office
and we work there as if you have recruited
us to the firm,” he explains. “This is one
way in which we are different. We also

BANKERS SHOULD BE
BROUGHT IN FROM
ABROAD WITH NEW IDEAS
AND A NEW MENTALITY

have cases where we are only paid
upon success. We have had a couple
of situations where the company under
restructuring was not in a position to pay
us and because we believed in the company,
we took shares in lieu of a cash payment.
How many companies do you know that
do that?”
He has a point.
We turn to the Cyprus banking sector,
of which George Mountis has personal
experience, having worked for both Bank
of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank. Not only
does it require major structural reforms but,
he believes, bankers have to shift the way
they think and interact with their clients.
“We have received numerous complaints
about this and although we were hearing
similar things a year ago, nobody paid
much attention then. Today, with so many
companies in distress or a step away from
administration, there are huge psychological and financial pressure 2&V