By Eleftheria Piperopoulou
The villa of Georgios Glou in Kastella, which was put up for auction a while ago, was once again left unclaimed.
The so-called “castles” that the Glou brothers had built in Castella, during the golden days of Glou, have long been in the “target” of auctions. Antonis Glou has already lost his own villa, which changed hands in 2021, with an award price of 950,401 euros, i.e. one euro above the starting price.
For the villa of Giorgos Glou, the hammer struck once again on July 12, without result. It is recalled that the price of the first offer was 3.3 million euros, while Probank, which is under special liquidation, was the first bidder.
It should be noted that the villa of Giorgos Glou and Maria Triantopoulos first went under the hammer on February 23, 2022 and then on July 28, 2022, with a first offer price of 3.3 million euros, but no interested parties appeared. The third auction was scheduled for October 19, 2022, with a starting price of €2.64 million, but was suspended. The property has been re-listed on the online auction platform for July 12, 2023, with the starting price reset to €3.3 million.
Today’s auction again had a starting price of 3.3 million Euros and accelerated Probank.
The property
It is a three-storey building with a basement and a closed parking area, which has been erected on a plot of land of 329,143 sq.m. and is located on Avenue Al. Papanastasiou 10 towards the sea. According to the assessment report, “this building is of conventional construction with a load-bearing body made of reinforced concrete and a filling body made of optical bricks. Materials such as stone and marble have been used, it is of good aesthetics, while it has a view towards the sea”.
From rise to fall
Antonis and Giorgos Glou started their activity in the clothing and sporting goods trade, relying on the many years of family experience of their father, Dimitris Glou. The start of the successful activity of the Glou brothers is marked by the operation of the first Glou store in Tsamadou Street, Piraeus, which opened in 1985. 1992 was a milestone year for the development of the group, as seven new Glou stores were opened, three million of which in the center of Athens.
In 1994 the company acquired the Puma representative office in Greece. The two brothers had a total of 44% in Puma Hellas, while the remaining 56% belonged to the parent company Puma AG. In 2006, the company had more than 60 stores within borders, while it had also expanded to Bulgaria, Albania, Cyprus and Romania. Its turnover at that time reached around 120 million euros and profits 15 million euros.
The first “clouds” for Glou appeared in 2008, when the economic crisis in Greece began to directly affect the retail trade of clothing and footwear. The company’s sales shrank in 2009 to around 67 million euros, compared to 80 million euros in 2008 , while at the same time recording losses of approximately 16 million euros, compared to profits of 1.7 million euros in 2008. According to the 2009 balance sheet, the company’s total liabilities amounted to 117.3 million euros, up from 124.6 million .euro in 2008. As a consequence of the above, the network of stores also began to shrink.
The real downfall, however, began in 2010, when the partnership with Puma came to an abrupt end. The German group accused the Greek company’s management of embezzlement at Puma Hellas which led to a €115 million pre-tax impairment. The company then joined Teiresias, while dozens of bad checks also came to light. Lavrentis Lavrentiadis then offered the brothers a temporary lifeline, with Ρrobank securing a loan for the Glous.
However, in 2013, Puma Hellas SA joined article 99 of the Bankruptcy Code, while a few days before, Antonis Glou was arrested for debts to the Greek State, amounting to 765,000 euros. The company officially declared bankruptcy in 2017, with a stop payment date of March 4, 2015.
