Our first conversation with George Economou came nearly 25 years ago and it had to do with junk bonds.

Economou’s Alpha Shipping had defaulted on $175m in high-yield notes less than 12 months from their issue in 1999, and he was in talks with bondholders about a resolution.

Economou wasn’t yet the legendary Greek shipping magnate he is today, and we were still getting our feet wet in the arcane world of ship finance.