U.S. investor opens office in Lisbon, seeks to snap up assets
By Axel Bugge
LISBON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Portugal's corporate sector is ripe for investment, said billionaire U.S. investor Paul Kazarian who became one of Greece's biggest bond holders and has now opened his first office in Europe in Lisbon.
The Socialist governments in both Greece and Portugal have adopted impressive policies to put their countries on the path to recovery after the euro zone debt crisis, said Kazarian, who owns Japonica Partners.
Both Portugal and Greece were bailed out during the crisis, but Portugal has returned to strong growth and exited its lifeline in 2014, while Greece still receives financial help under a programme which is expected to expire in 2018.
"Both (Greece and Portugal) have done very well over the last two years, in terms of improving their financial house keeping," Kazarian told Reuters in an interview. "Let's see what happens, it looks good and they're both Socialist governments."
In Portugal a centre-left Socialist government came to power in 2015, following a centre-right administration, and has led the country to its strongest growth in at least a decade. Greek leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has also led his country since 2015.
"I wouldn't have thought a Socialist government with no business background and management expertise would outperform the prior governments (in Portugal and Greece). I think like 'wow.' If I was the prior governments, I'd be embarrassed."
Kazarian's Japonica became one of the largest holders of Greek debt in 2013, at a time when most investors shunned Athens. Japonica made a tender offer to buy up to 2.9 billion euros in face value of Greek bonds.
He would give no further details of that investment, only to say "we're long-term holders" of Greek debt and that some of the bonds have now matured. Kazarian says he saw an "anomaly" in the pricing of Greek bonds at the time that he may not find again.
But he has now opened an office in Lisbon and is looking at investment opportunities, including real estate and technology companies.
Portugal is seeing a boom in property and its technology sector is growing, not least thanks to Web Summit - one of Europe's largest tech conferences - having moved to Lisbon.
Kazarian said he prefers larger investments and thinks there are possibilities in Portugal, where companies tend to focus on the Portuguese-speaking world, rather than globally.
He said the typical Portuguese company tends to focus for expansion on Portugal's former colonies, including Angola and Mozambique, "and then that's it."
"If you can find a very attractive franchise, or business, and you can truly then make it global, globally competitive, that's where we can add value."
Some Portuguese companies are "extraordinarily self-content" he said, saying big firms can also develop in small countries.
He added that Japonica's Lisbon office would not only look at Portugal but also at Europe. (Reporting By Axel Bugge; Editing by Matthews Mpoke Bigg)
