Founded in 1949, and participating in the resurgence of post-war Greece, AEGEK has been involved with the construction of some of the largest infrastructure projects in the last 60 years. During the 1980s, AEGEK developed from a medium-sized technical company to a major contractor. Expanding its activities in several fields, including the construction of complex hydro projects, thermal projects, metal projects, works for airline companies, etc, the company was first listed on the Athens stock exchange in 1993, and now enjoys a wide shareholder base. 

In the years between 2005 and 2007, due to the adverse environment in the construction sector in Greece, the business activities and finances of the group were affected. However, recent injections of capital of significant value as well as the participation of a new strategic investor – experienced engineer and businessman Mr I Maroulis – signalled a reversal of the situation and allowed progress of the company’s works in all fields and an expansion of its activities. In February, 2008, in the context of adapting itself to face a new and challenging business environment, AEGEK was transformed to a holding and project management company – AEGEK Group – with AEGEK Construction S.A. forming part of the affiliated company. Since then, AEGEK Group has had collaborations with many companies, mainly in the fields of concessions, real estate, parking etc, while its construction activities have been undertaken by AEGEK Construction. 

A matter of scale

To date, AEGEK has undertaken projects for Greek clients such as the Public Power Corporation, the Ministry of the Environment and town planning and public works departments. It also has as customers the Greek Railways Organisation; the Athens Metro; Egnatia Odos, which is carrying out the construction of a new motorway in the north of Greece; the Public Gas Corporation; Olympic Airways; and the Ministry of Mercantile Marine. The company’s client base is not limited to Greece, however. It has also carried out projects for the Ministry of Waters and Irrigation in Jordan; the Ministry of Transport in Romania; the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment in Cyprus; and the Ministry of Public Works in Albania, where it has a contract for road construction.

Whether AEGEK takes on a whole project or collaborates with other companies depends on the size of the project. Mr Dionysatos explains: “With large, complex projects such as metro projects or major road works for example, concessions are usually offered for collaboration schemes. Among our partners are some well known Greek and international construction firms such as Impregilo, Hochtief and Vinci.” Many of these projects are funded by the government and, when asked about any extra financial input of the Greek government into public works in order to boost the economy in a way similar to other countries, Mr Dionysatos replies: “This has been the case for the last 10 years, but we are not very sure of how it will be treated in the future. So we are waiting to see the government’s reaction on that – we hope it will be so.”

AEGEK has a licence of the highest degree in Greece, enabling it to undertake large-scale projects. At the moment, the company is primarily involved in various sectors of public works, the majority of which are large, detailed projects. Mr Dionysatos describes some of the more important projects: “On the Thessaloniki Metro project, AEGEK Construction is the leader of an international consortium. It’s a turnkey pro-ject and is the largest public works project which has been awarded in Greece and one of the largest in Europe – the overall length of the new metro lines will be approximately 9.67 kilometres on a double line and double tunnel. It will include the construction of 13 state-of-the-art stations and has a budget of about e930 million. 

“We are also kitting part of the self-financed, build-operate-transfer project ‘Mailiakos-Kleidi’, which is part of the Pathe Motorway which connects the south to the north. We are involved with the design, build, operation and maintenance of the Pathe Motorway, which is 232 kilometres with sections of 25 kilometres in length, and with the construction of the Tempi and Platamonas twin tunnels, each 11 kilometres, as well as three large bridges and road construction and improvement reconstruction of some parts of the existing motorway. The overall cost of the project is in the region of e1.281 million. The concession is for about 30 years. 

“Then we have the construction of three new stations for Line 3 of the Athens Metro, at Cholargos, Nomismatokopio and Ayia Paraskevi, with a budget of e75 million; we are constructing a hydroelectric power-generation dam at Ilarionas in Kozani with a budget of e102 million; there is the construction of a section of the Egnatia Odos Motorway, the Driskos Tunnel, with a budget of e192 million; Arachthos River Bridge with a budget of e66 million; a new military hospital in Thessaloniki in a consortium with other companies and a budget of e163 million; the Kammena Vourla bypass with a budget of e90 million; the Gadoura Dam in Rhodes with a budget of e54 million; and we are constructing and operating underground parking facilities in the centre of Athens.

“Also, AEGEK Group is a dynamic force in the real estate development sector – it has a number of outstanding unique estates such as an estate of 713,000 square metres situated on the famous White Sands of Elafonissos in southern Crete, and the Agrilia estate in western Greece comprising 240,000 square metres, which is a proposed resort development currently under design,” adds Mr Dionysatos.

A degree of expertise

Mr Dionysatos explains that the ability to carry out large scale projects comes from the employees and is built on their knowledge and experience: “Also, it is the large amount of equipment we have and the experience as a company. We employ at this moment about 1,600 people, and we have at present about 1,500 articles of heavy- and light-construction equipment and vehicles.” He further clarifies these assets and the associated advantages: “The fact is that the group employs experienced personnel who work within the group on a steady basis for a long time. We have continuous training programmes, and, in addition to that, the group customarily uses its own plant and equipment which are either new or fully-refurbished; these bring further investment and grant benefits over competitors.” AEGEK predominantly employs Greek engineers and personnel – one of the reasons being that 90 percent of the projects are in Greece, where there are fewer ‘foreign’ engineers. However, when working on projects outside Greece, AEGEK does employ from the international market, thus bringing local knowledge to bear.

Part of ensuring the stability of this knowledge base is a system of ongoing training and development of staff who are encouraged to attend seminars, exhibitions, and so forth. It is also important to ensure the latest equipment and technologies are used as this allows for a better job to be done quicker. Therefore, when new machinery is purchased, every member of staff is fully trained in the use of it before its application to a project. As Mr Dionysatos emphasises: “This is extremely important because technology moves forward very quickly these days, and our workers need to be adequately trained and kept up to date.”

A level of security

Quality and safety are important to the AEGEK Group, not only to ensure the well-being of its staff, but to reassure potential clients of the high standards of operations carried out. For every project executed, the company’s objective is to have it compliant with contractual specifications and conditions, so quality is constantly being assessed up until the handover to the client. As Mr Dionysatos affirms, this ensures “we are on time in delivering, and compliant with the necessary safety measures in order to attain safe completion.” The practice of constant assessment of quality and safety measures also ensures “the creation and maintenance of best possible working environments for our personnel, optimum communication between our people, a friendly environment among the employees, the continuous training of the entire personnel and dedication to the development and maintenance of technical know-how.”

Potential clients can also feel secure in the knowledge that AEGEK is very sensitive to the environment. This is a top priority for the company, with the participation of staff an important issue. As Mr Dionysatos confirms: “As a company we can give guidelines, but also, each and every one of us is responsible for following them, and to understand them. That is why we insist on training personnel in issues of safety.”

A future of growth

Future growth of the group and expansion of its activities is planned, including the conclusion of new strategic alliances and the improvement of the development rate of essential financial variables, such as revenue, cost of sales and so forth, and certain other significant factors which are expected to have a positive contribution to the achievement of these future goals. The group also plans to participate in big public projects in the ‘third and fourth community frameworks’ in Greece, to develop its activities abroad and to participate in the undertaking of private development projects. In order to diversify, it is planning for a future in port construction, with landscaping, excavations and technical works. So, despite current economic climates, the group’s approach is one of positive growth, increasing the business rather than consolidating. As Mr Dionysatos reflects: “We look forward to participation in the real estate business and acquiring land and buildings. It is good when there is a recession and you have the money to proceed like that. Our outlook is positive for the next few years, but we have to expand and look to longer periods and different markets; for example, Saudi Arabia is full of contractors, lots of competition, so I’m not sure we can get the best prices, but China and India may be something we will look at.”

Taking on big projects in such countries is a big challenge because those markets are large and have many new projects. But Mr Dionysatos feels confident in AEGEK’s ability “to adapt to different ways of life and different ways of working with local people and governments.”