THEBES, Greece/STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) -Petzetakis likes to call itself the first Greek multinational. The company began making plastic pipes and hoses in the early 1960s and grew steadily over the next couple of decades, opening a plant in Portugal and pushing into Germany. Proud of its role as a pioneer, the firm dreamed of bigger things.
Opportunity came when Athens joined the euro at the turn of the millennium. Like other Greek companies, Petzetakis feasted on the easy credit that was suddenly available to it, snapping up smaller rivals around the world.
But when the global financial crisis hit, the firm found itself overstretched. Late last year, it shut its main plant in Thebes, a provincial city of around 30,000 people an hour's drive north of Athens, and stopped paying its workers. "They employed 150 people from the area," said former employee Spyros Megaritis two weeks ago. "Since November we don't work unless we are paid what we are owed."
The company's German plant is busier than ever.
Read Full Article »