John Latsis

Greek tycoon whose rise to riches was meteoric

John Spyros Latsis, shipowner, oil trader, financier and philanthropist: born Katákolon, Greece 14 September 1910; married Erietta Tsoukala (one son, two daughters); died Athens 17 April 2003.

If there was ever a story of "rags to riches" that came true in real life, it was the story of John Latsis.

Born Yiannis Latsis to a poor Peloponnesian family in the Ionian fishing town of Katákolon, he became one of the richest men in the world. The Latsis empire, built over five decades and currently valued in excess of £10bn, consists of a fleet of approximately two million gross tons (including dry cargo ships, super-tankers, ro-ros, a cruiser, salvage tugs and repair vessels), oil refineries, real estate and construction businesses in Saudi Arabia, Greece, the United States and Britain, three private banks (the London-based EFG Private Bank and Trust Co, the Geneva-based Banque des Dépôts bought in 1980 from Aristotle Onassis, and the Athens-based Eurobank). It also comprises several yachts, two of which, while anchored at Jeddah, used to serve as Latsis's headquarters and guest-houses.

As a teenager, Latsis could have followed either of two unpromising careers: work for the Greek railways like his father Spyros or go to sea. He chose the latter. There were 21 children in the family; Yiannis Latsis was the seventh. He attended the commercial gymnasium in the nearby town of Pyrgos and later qualified as a Master Mariner. He worked from a young age, first as a fisherman in the local caiques, then as baggage handler for the Piraeus ferries and, during the Second World War, in spite of German strictures, became the operator of a small ferry in the inter-island trades.

Latsis seems to have proved his business acumen on the island of Rhodes while it suffered a wartime epidemic of rats so serious as to threaten the health of a whole town. Having obtained the Italian governor's promise of a hefty reward, he set sail for Cyprus where he loaded onto his schooner hundreds of cats. He sailed back but within sight of the Rhodian shores his boat was inadvertently bombed by the Germans. She did not capsize, but managed to limp into port. The hordes of hungry cats were let loose and the menace subsided. Latsis was paid his reward by the Italians. But he also mounted (and eventually won) a claim for war reparation against the Germans for the value of his shipwrecked schooner on the grounds that it had been bombed in the course of an authorised, peaceful mission.

There have been rumours in Greece that Latsis collaborated with the Italians and the Germans during the Second World War. The fact is that he was acquitted in a post-war trial mounted against him as a form of blackmail by left-wing politicians. One of them, who later rose to the post of Speaker for the Socialist party, publicly apologised to Latsis for false accusations.

Latsis's relentless climb to wealth, fame and international glitz began in the early 1950s when he was appointed European representative for the United Molasses Company of Egypt. This opened the way for further contacts with the Arabs to whom Latsis was quick to offer the possibility of massive, inexpensive pilgrimages to Mecca in government-chartered ships.

President Gamal Abdel Nasser and King Idris of Libya were quick to grasp the vote-catching potential of offering free pilgrims' progresses to their subjects and responded positively. Latsis obliged by providing, year after year, at substantial profits, a fleet of subchartered liners to satisfy the Mecca worshippers. Business relations eventually gave way to important friendships. It is reputed that during the 1957 Arab-Israeli war Latsis placed his entire fleet at the disposal of Nasser – a token of allegiance which gained him incalculable goodwill among all Arabs.

The 1950s and early 1960s were good times for tankers and Latsis traded worldwide in Libyan and Saudi crude. Port facilities in both countries were rudimentary so his offer to build and modernise harbours, docks and ship terminals and to provide modern equipment and technical expertise were welcomed. Over the course of two decades, 1965-85, he undertook major construction projects in Saudi Arabia, most important among which were the oil refinery and port installations at Rabigh on the Red Sea and King Fahd's palace and adjacent missile base at Riyadh. Both contracts were worth hundreds of millions of dollars and it is certainly to Latsis's credit that he managed to undertake and deliver them in competition with multinational construction companies.

In the course of his extensive construction works in the Middle East, Latsis employed an international workforce of as many as 12,000, many of whom (especially the engineers and business managers) were Greek. Throughout the period he enjoyed he support of the Saudi Energy Minister Sheikh Kaki Yamani and of Saudi royalty.

Latsis's enterprises were always divided between sea and land. He increased his cargo fleet by transporting materials and goods for his construction projects in the Middle East and his tanker fleet by exporting oil out of ports and pipelines he had been paid to construct. Whether in Greece or abroad, he relished contacts in high places and had the talent to make them pay.

In 1967 he entered into negotiations with the military junta ruling Greece in order to build the oil refinery at Eleusis, near Athens. A relative newcomer to the oil business, he bid against established industrialists such as Bodosakis, Mamidakis and Andreadis. He won the contract on the strength of his personal undertaking to contribute to the country's economic regeneration, a welcome pledge at a time when the United States had cut off military aid to Greece in order to expedite a return to democracy.

During the first years of its operation, the Eleusis refinery, managed by Latsis's Petrola SA, had a troubled history of labour unrest and legal suits. Its operation has been criticised by local pressure-groups and it has had to face a long-standing battle with anti-pollution organisations and government bureaucracy keen to secure electoral advantage.

Latsis was always a generous donor to political party funds both in Greece and in the UK. His £2m donation to the Conservative Party was publicised by The Times in 1991 and challenged in Parliament by Labour. Within Greece he contributed hefty sums to all parties, including the Communists. He also gave profusely to innumerable charities worldwide, among which the Prince of Wales's Youth Business Scheme was the notable recipient of £1m. He initiated worldwide support for the Sinai monastery of St Katherine where an invaluable treasure-trove of early Christianity urgently needs to be preserved and restored.

In Greece the Latsis Foundation School in the Epirus village of Pogoniani offers education and training to Greek students and refugees from Albania. The school proved remarkably successful as a peace-initiative in the Balkans and earned praise from all quarters, including the United Nations. Latsis's philanthropy and contributions to social welfare were honoured by the Greek state (Great Cross of the Phoenix), the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Gold Cross) and the Academy of Athens.

Latsis's critics attached an ulterior motive to most of these philanthropic gestures and there can be no doubt that, in addition to useful friends in high places, such donations allowed Latsis substantial inroads into the Saudi royal household where apparently he was one of the very few to be allowed to kiss King Fahd's hand in public. Latsis did spend in excess of $3.5m to buy Stavros Niarchos's fabulous yacht, the Atlantis, to make a present of it to the Saudi king. He also had contacts with the British royal family, although his munificence was scaled down to a holiday on board his yacht Alexander for the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children during the sunny pre-divorce summer of 1991. In 1999 the Prince of Wales was criticised in the press for accepting Latsis's hospitality for a party of 22, including Camilla Parker Bowles, on a cruise around the Greek islands on board Alexander.

As the proud owner of Bridgewater House, the listed Victorian palace at St James's which Latsis bought in 1981 for £19m and suitably refurbished at a cost of another £10m, in 1990 Latsis played host to the G7 Economic Conference and was at the time publicly thanked by President George Bush and Margaret Thatcher. The following year he hosted a 50th birthday party for ex-King Constantine of Greece and was seated next to the Queen.

Latsis's business and political involvements were certainly many and mostly unknown, whether in his native Greece or elsewhere. His rise to riches was meteoric, based on acumen, hard work and the ability to manage and motivate. In spite of an international career, he never entirely managed to shed his provincial mannerisms and was famous for unleashing streams of foul-mouthed invective against anyone who dared cross him. No one can deny his industry and perspicacity, as no one can gainsay his gargantuan generosity late in life. He took great pride in the academic and business achievements of his son and heir, Spiros, a Harvard economist. His daughter Marianna has been active on the board of Eurobank and initiated its programme of major cultural subsidies in Greece.

Michael Moschos