Thanos Papalexis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
Contents |
[edit] Background
Thanos Papalexis (full name Athanasios Emmanuel Papalexis) (Greek Αθανασιος (meaning "Immortality") Παπαλεξης) born 23 July 1972 is a British born businessman generally credited with pioneering non-traditional and extremely effective negotiating methods and deal structures in the oil, shipping and real estate industries. Born in 1972 in London, UK to Greek parents, Emmanuel and Seraina Papalexis, he attended the acclaimed Mill Hill private school for boys where despite only mediocre academic grades, he led virtually every school sports team as captain and subsequently established several athletic records that remained unbeaten for two decades.
Having pursued a degree in Product and Engineering, he decided that the best education was not one of academia but of effective and practical experimentation and decided to drop out of college after two years.
His career began at nineteen years of age working for various companies in London and Dubai involved in the carriage and trade of crude oil and petrochemicals. Eventually working within a family controlled organization led by his father, he started at an early age negotiating and dealing with various government controlled agencies and companies in the USA and internationally dealing in the purchase and carriage of crude oil, iron ore, coal, refined petrochemical products, Urea and other similar commodities.
According to OPEC figures published in 2000, in the late 1990s he (or companies he represented) arranged, brokered or represented the carriage of over thirty million barrels of crude oil on behalf of companies including Mobil Oil, Exxon, Coastal Corporation, Chevron Oil and others in the USA as well as international companies such as Elf Oil of France, ARAMCO of Saudi Arabia, and many other oil producers or refiners.
At 22 years of age, with no previous construction experience he undertook the $20m conversion of a 150 year old industrial building in the City of London into 30 luxurious condominiums and townhomes. Despite the successful completion of the project, his inexperience in the arena resulted in the project being drastically delayed and significantly over budget effectively negating any financial benefit from the venture, however, he has stated that this experience was "A better education in business than any university could ever hope to achieve".
[edit] Business Interests
Having lived between London, Athens and Dubai, during the late 90's, while shipping markets experienced a downward trend, Thanos Papalexis was pivotal in the creation of Nemesis Holdings, a consortium of large scale shipping and oil investors, who appointed him as President and subsequently engaged a $100m real estate investment plan on their behalf internationally and predominantly in the USA. Between 2000 and 2007, he led the consortium to several large scale successes during the real estate boom that the USA was experiencing. Having creatively negotiated the acquisition and development of over a million square feet of residential and hotel space, mainly in Florida, he disposed of the groups assets at the top of the market at significant premiums to various US based hedge funds and development firms. Having a knack for timing, he led the consortium to apply those enormous profits back into the energy markets just as oil began a great surge.
During 2002 and 2003 he was especially active in the Middle East, having been retained by various oil companies and shipowners related to consortium principals to successfully negotiate with local militia groups to release commercial vessels that were being held hostage in the Shatt al-Arab river in Iraq during the unstable time after the US led invasion.
Having implemented development ideologies on behalf of the consortium and their various investors, he pioneered the development of large scale condominiums and hotels on land acquired through "British styled" 200 year land leases as opposed to expensive acquisitions, a measure that ultimately doubled the groups profitability upon the disposition of the ventures. Through his negotiating and structuring abilities, the consortium was able to acquire several properties under such ground leases for approximately $300,000 each and then sell each lease less than twelve months later for over $14 million each. In the era of the real estate boom between 2002 - 2006 these transactions were heralded as breaking the barriers of normal profitability ratios of real estate developments.
In 2004 during the real estate boom in Florida, under his leadership, his companies acquired a large portfolio of real estate in the City of West Palm Beach including several sensitive parcels affiliated with the Central City Hall, which he ultimately sold within three months at a 500% profit to WCI Communities. During 2006, he attempted a high profile acquisition of a 30 story tower in West Palm Beach known as Tower 1515. This building had been ravaged in the hurricanes of 2005 and all 115 inhabited units had to be vacated. The buildings insurance providers QBE had rejected the claim for damages (which led to a $20m lawsuit against the insurance company) and Thanos Papalexis backed by UBS AG successfully negotiated with 115 individual unit owners to acquire the property for $55m. At the time, the residential real estate market was softening and despite certain doubts the deal progressed through a myriad of technical difficulties. In May 2006 it was announced that the insurance claim made by the Condo Association board had been compiled fraudulently and would be negated so Mr. Papalexis and his financiers UBS AG ultimately pulled out of the purchase negotiation and forfeited approximately $2m in deposits to the unit owners.
Under his leadership the consortium, has invested in industries ranging from oil trading to hotels [www.sisemen.com] and hospitality and constantly ensure extremely creative and mostly profitable results from their engagements. In 2007 the consortium reportedly purchased a significant interest in a refinery based in the Caribbean which provides significant petroleum products to the US market. Thanos Papalexis and the consortium was also responsible for the successful sale and purchase of three separate refineries in the Caribbean and South America to various oil companies between 2004 and 2006.
Amongst other assets and operations, the consortium or their affiliated companies own an oil trading business and interests in several refineries, a hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, a five star hotel in the Republic of the Maldives, a hotel in Fort Myers [www.vitavenezia.com], Florida, a private island in the Bahamas[www.vitaisola.com], a private aviation company with several private aircraft, a fleet of oil and chemical carriers and a 165-foot (50 m) motor yacht M/Y Nemesis. The consortium which is primarily represented by an international company called Nemesis Holdings based in the Marshall Islands includes several Greek shipowners and several members of Middle Eastern royal families. Despite the extremely secretive nature of the consortium, various filings in the Marshall Islands registry show the estimated worth of the consortium as $2.24 billion.
[edit] Disputes and Media
In 2001, one of the ventures he pursued personally was the creation of an upscale travel system tailoring to billionaires, however after the slowdown in the travel industry following the Sept 11th attacks in 2001, this venture ultimately failed. Resultant from his investment in this venture several civil suits were filed against him however they were mostly settled out of court.
Despite being labelled by various media and news reports as the son of a Greek shipping tycoon, Thanos Papalexis' own statements have reflected that he was raised in an extremely comfortable and privileged environment but was far from being the son of a tycoon. He credits his father and family upbringing for his education and specifically for a diverse array of contacts but maintains he is a self made businessman.
His harsh business methodologies, while profitable for investors and partners have gained notoriety and his companies have been subject to civil litigation which have seldom been successful in proving any claim. His high profile image and enthusiastic persona have frequently been subject to various conjectures and claims relating to his background and activities. He has been subject to several gossip columnists and tabloid reporters, however, he remains active on behalf of the consortium who despite leading their reinvestment in the energy sectors he also remains active in the hospitality and real estate industries mainly in Florida and the Bahamas.
In early 2008 he arranged for his family to donate over 400 acres (1.6 km²) of land and pledged over five million dollars to the Leo Foundation, a charitable foundation aimed at helping homeless people specifically in the Northern cities of the USA. His family has been a long time sponsor of various charitable organizations in his homeland of Greece and in the Philippines with a street named after his mother (Seraina Papalexis Road) after her death in 1998 after battling brain cancer.
[edit] Miscellaneous
He is a tsunami survivor having been in the Maldives with his wife and 6 month old baby at the time of the catastrophe in 2004 and was able to evacuate his family to safety within hours of the disaster by persuading local airport officials to reopen the airport for a flight resultantly evacuating 300 passengers.
An insomniac by nature, he is known for sleeping approximately two hours a day and is famed by his colleagues and business associates for constantly sending extremely long detailed emails at 4am addressing business items.
He currently resides between Athens, Greece and Palm Beach, Florida.
