Evangelos Marinakis

Evangelos Marinakis (Ευάγγελος (Βαγγέλης) Μαρινάκης, born 30 July 1967) is a Greek media mogul, ship owner, lyricist and member of the Piraeus city council.

He is the owner of the football clubs Olympiacos in Greece, Nottingham Forest in England and Rio Ave in Portugal.

Evangelos Marinakis was born in Piraeus, Greece on 30 July 1967.

He is the only son of Miltiadis Marinakis and Irini Marinaki (née Karakatsani).

His father, Miltiadis Marinakis, was born in Crete.

He was a shipowner, a Member of the Greek Parliament and, at times, a financial supporter of Piraeus football club, Olympiacos.

Marinakis holds a B.A. in 'International Business Administration' and an M.Sc. in 'International Relations'.

From 1992 to 2005, Marinakis was the commercial manager of Capital Ship Management Corp. and oversaw the businesses of the group of companies that now form Capital Maritime.

For the past decades, he has also been active in several other family-controlled businesses all related to the shipping industry.

On December 5, 2023, Marinakis, through his newly established company Capital Offshore, invested $106 million to purchase a fleet of seven platform supply vessels.

On 8 February 2024, Marinakis supported the establishment of the Maritime Emissions Reduction Centre (M-ERC) in Athens, a collaborative effort with Lloyd's Register aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the global fleet.

From March 2010 until September 2011, Marinakis also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NYSE-listed Crude Carriers Corp. Between March 2007 and December 2014 he was chairman of Capital Product Partners L.P. (NASDAQ:CPLP).

Since mid-2010 Marinakis has owned Piraeus' hometown team Olympiacos, and serves as its President.

Marinakis served as president of the Superleague Greece and vice-president of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) from August 2010 until September 2011.

During his presidency of Olympiacos, the team won the Greek League title for seven consecutive seasons from 2010–11 to 2016–17, 2020 to 2022 and the National Cup for the 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15 and 2020 seasons.

In May 2014, Marinakis was elected first member of the Piraeus city council with the Piraeus Winner independent ticket, that he co-founded with Yannis Moralis, vice-president of Olympiacos.

Among their pledges were the preservation of the public nature of Piraeus Port Authority and the development of Piraeus as Europe's largest cruise ship destination and home port.

During the elections, his political opponent, Vassilis Michaloliakos, claimed Marinakis was related with the far right political party Golden Dawn and accused him for its financial support.

Marinakis rejected these accusations stating "I condemn Golden Dawn's criminal activity".

After the election, Reuters declared that "rarely has big business mingled so openly with politics in a country where contacts between the two are usually conducted behind the scenes".

Marinakis responded, in a Tradewinds interview, that he can see no reason why someone with a strong record in business cannot get into politics, calling that stance "Paleolithic logic", "I am not afraid to be involved in politics, because I have no business with the Greek state" he said.

Since the elections, he undertook the construction of squares, parks, children's playgrounds and sports facilities, at his own cost, as the municipality of Piraeus lacks the necessary funds due to the economic crisis.

In September 2016, Marinakis, through his company Alter Ego Media, won one of four national television licenses auctioned in Greece after spending EUR 73.9m ($82.8m) in a highly unusual competitive bidding process.

The license was however revoked on 26 October 2016 since the Greek Council of State held that the TV license law of Minister of State Nikos Pappas was unconstitutional.

Marinakis is the founder and chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. The Capital Maritime Group which is controlled by the Marinakis family, managed a mixed fleet of more than 70 ships in 2017, including tankers, container ships and dry bulk carriers.

In May 2017, it was announced that Marinakis had completed a transaction to become the majority shareholder in English Championship club and former double European Cup winners Nottingham Forest.

The Nottingham Post noted that Marinakis’ acquisition of the club heralds "an exciting future that gives genuine reason for optimism".

Meanwhile, manager Mark Warburton commented that he expects Marinakis and his team to be ambitious for Nottingham Forest.

"... they are aware of the club's stature and they are good football people," Warburton was quoted as saying.

Following his takeover of Forest, Marinakis aimed for the club to qualify for Europe within five years, as well as having a redeveloped stadium and training ground.

Although Forest have announced £50 million plans to redevelop to the City Ground and the Nigel Doughty Academy, On June 29, 2022, Forest won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years, justifying the efforts and dreams of V. Marinakis.

In November 2023, he completed the takeover of Portuguese club Rio Ave, investing over €20.5 million to reportedly settle debts and upgrade facilities, in collaboration with football agent Jorge Mendes.

On 31 January 2024, Marinakis hosted a conference at the City Ground with Harvard University and the Lilian Thuram Foundation focusing on tackling racism and gender inequality in football.

In July 2017, Alter Ego was confirmed by a Greek first-instance court as the acquirer of the Lambrakis Press Group (DOL).

Capital Group entered the LNG segment in 2018, ordering up to ten LNG ships of a total value of 1.8billion.

In November 2018, Capital Product Partners L.P. announced the merger of its tanker fleet with DSS Holdings, whose largest shareholder is WL Ross & Co., thus creating one of the biggest listed tanker companies in the world, in a transaction valued at $1.65bn.

During the outbreak that started in 2019, Marinakis showed symptoms of and tested positive for COVID-19 on his return to Greece in March 2020 after attending Nottingham Forest's game on 6 March and also the Harlem Globetrotters show piece at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena.

On 24 March, he said he had fully recovered from the effects of the virus.

In May 2019, Marinakis was re-elected first member of the Piraeus city council with the Piraeus Winner independent ticket led by mayor Yannis Moralis.

On 10 March 2020, Marinakis announced on social media that he is recovering from COVID-19 and taking all the necessary measures according to the doctor's instructions.