Hyperfund mired in trouble

It was decided that the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (EESYP), widely known as Hyperfund, was to be established in August 2015 as part of the agreement with the country's European lenders for the 86-billion-euro loans of the third bailout agreement.

In practice, it constituted a portfolio of guarantees for the country's official creditors, which included the participations in the then recapitalized Greek banks, the assets of the state asset privatization fund (TAIPED) which had been established a few years earlier, as well as the Public Real Estate Company (ETAD) and the state holdings in large listed and non-listed companies. It was finally established in 2016.

Although many spoke then of mortgaging public property, those with the best intentions believed that the strict corporate governance rules provided for in its founding law would help on the...