Spiros Latsis

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Spiros J. Latsis
Σπύρος Λάτσης
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Born (1946-01-01) January 1, 1946 (age 78)
Athens, Greece
Residence Geneva, Switzerland
Nationality Greek
Occupation Businessman
Years active 1972–
Known for Owner of EFG International
Major Shareholder of Lamda Development
Owner of Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings
Major Shareholder of Hellenic Petroleum
Net worth Increase US$2.7 billion (June 2015) [1]
Spouse(s) Dorothy Bradley
Children 2
Parent(s) Yiannis Latsis
Erietta Tsoukala
Website EFG Group

Spiros J. Latsis (Greek: Σπύρος Λάτσης; born 1946) is a Greek business magnate. He is the son of the late tycoon Yiannis Latsis, who died in 2003.[2]

Early life

Spiro Latsis is the son of John Latsis and Erietta Tsoukala. He has two sisters, Marianna and Margarita Latsis.[3] His senior schooling was at the London School of Economics where, in 1968, he obtained his bachelor's degree in economics. In 1970, he received a master's degree in logic and scientific method. He went on to pursue his doctorate and obtained a PhD in philosophy from the London School of Economics in 1974.[4]

Career and family business

His father John Latsis started building the Latsis family fortune in 1938 as a trader and later a ship-owner. He grew his business into a fleet of ships by the 1960s. He built up a number of business interests in the areas of shipping, real estate, construction and oil, plus banking and finance.[5] Latsis joined the family business initially in the banking arm.

From 1989, Latsis became a director of some companies within the EFG Group, the family banking Holding Group, including Private Financial Holdings Limited which became EFG Private Bank Limited in London, and EFG Consolidated Holding SA in Luxembourg. The following year, he also assumed the role of director of Eurofinanciere d’Investissements SAM in Monaco and became a non-Executive Director of Eurobank Ergasias SA in Athens. Dr Latsis officially assumed the role of Chairman of the EFG Group in 1997.[6]

After the death of his father in 2003, Latsis took over the direction of the Latsis Group of companies.[7] Since that time, Latsis, while remaining Chairman of EFG Bank (the family bank holding company) has become a director of EFG International and Consolidated Lamda Holdings, serves as President of Societe d’Etudes et Economiques in Geneva, and is Chairman of several other companies including Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings S.A. in Luxembourg.[8]

Latsis is the wealthiest Greek alive, ranked at #51 on the 2008 Forbes list of the world’s richest people. However, the tycoon took a big hit amid the country’s recession, with stocks of his EFG Eurobank, Lamda Development and Hellenic Petroleum all falling significantly in 2011,but recovered in 2013. Latsis invited the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, who had been a student friend at the London School of Economics, to be a guest on his yacht. Subsequently, allegations were made in the press that this somehow influenced Commission decisions but these have been disproved.[citation needed]

Business interests

The family's largest holding is its EFG Bank European Financial Group in Luxembourg, a private banking group that operates in many jurisdictions. The Group holds over 50% of EFG International listed in Switzerland on the Zurich Stock Exchange, which is a global private banking group offering private banking and asset management services. EFGI's group of private banking businesses operates in around 30 locations worldwide, with 2,059 employees and manages CHF93.5bn of client assets as at 31 December 2014.[9]

The Latsis family fortune, managed by Spiro Latsis, includes more than 42% in Hellenic Petroleum, a major petroleum player in Southern Europe, through its ownership of Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings S.A.. The Latsis group also controls Lamda Development, a real estate group based in Athens.[10] Lamda Development projects include The Mall Athens, which opened in 2005, and Golden Hall Mall, also in Athens. Latsis also started PrivateAir, a jet charter service with over 50 planes in its repertoire serving affluent European and American travelers, and which he has since sold.[11]

Honours, recognition, and philanthropy

In 2006 Latsis received an honorary doctorate from Witten/Herdecke University in Witten, Germany recognizing his work in the field of economics.[12]

In addition to his various business holdings, Latsis (with his family) helps to fund the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and the International Latsis Foundation in Geneva. In 2012, he transferred around $300 million of his Greek banking stock holdings to various members of the Latsis family, with a contribution also going to the Foundation.[13]

The John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation helps to fund programs in the areas of education, scientific research, social welfare, and culture.[14] The Geneva Foundation funds five scientific awards per annum as well as a number of conferences at the Swiss Polytechnic Institutes in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the University of Geneva.

Memberships

  • Member of the Board of trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
  • Life member of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce
  • Life Member of the American Economic Association
  • Member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
  • Member of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science
  • Member of the Court of Governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science [LSE]
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the London School of Economics Hellenic Observatory
  • Member of the Executive Council of the International Latsis Foundation, Geneva
  • Member of the Supervisory Board of the John S Latsis Public Benefit Foundation
  • Honorary Fellow, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation of the International School in Geneva (1984-1989)
  • Trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

Publications

  • Latsis, S.J. (1972) Situational Determinism in Economics The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 1972 23, pp. 207–45
  • Latsis, S.J. (1976a) A Research Programme in Economics,Spiro J. Latsis, ed., Method and Appraisal in Economics (Cambridge University Press) pp 1–41
  • Latsis, S.J. (1976b) The limitations of single-exit models: Reply to Machlup. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 27, pp 51 – 60
  • Latsis, Spiro J. Ed. Method and Appraisal in Economics Cambridge University Press 1976 ISBN 0-521-21076-3
  • Latsis, S.J. The role and status of the rationality principle in the social sciences in Epistemology, Methodology and the Social Sciences R.S.Cohen & M.W.Wartofsky (Eds) Dordrecht: Reidel 1983
  • Latsis, S.J. (1996) “Nafplion revisited” in D. Vaz and K. Velupillai eds., Inflation, Institutions and Information. Essays in Honour of Axel Leijonhufvud, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 24–32
  • Latsis, S.J. (2006 Encounters with Freedom). Monograph. Faculty of Management and Economics, Chair of Economics and Philosophy, Witten/Herdeck University, pp 42–57

References

  1. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/profile/spiro-latsis/
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