AMPNI and Aegean Oil Melissanidis was the founder and owner of the marine fuels and
bunkering services supplier
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (AMPNI) and of the petroleum company
Aegean Oil which he still currently owns. He launched the business in 1995. In August 2016, Melissanidis sold all the shares of AMPNI. In 2017 Melissanidis attempted to return to AMPNI, through a proposed acquisition of Hellenic Environmental Center, a company owned by the Melissanidis family, by AMPNI. The reaction of a group of ‘activist’ minority shareholders, led to the cancellation of this deal, changes in AMPNI's board and an internal investigation by the board's audit committee that discovered the misappropriation of up to $300 million in assets. The investigation found that a set of shell companies, fake receipts and documents covered up the misappropriation making it look like Aegean had legitimate contracts with customers that would explain the missing cash. AMPNI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was acquisitioned by the
Mercuria group, and operates as Minerva Bunkering. AMPNI's creditors have filed suits against Melissanidis in courts in the US and Luxemburg accusing Melissanidis of fraudulent activities, of destroying evidence (including the use of military grade deletion software) and of threatening witnesses. Melissanidis has denied these allegations but decision is awaited in regards to these suits.
Ionikos His involvement in sports began with
Ionikos Nikaias B.C., where he became the club's vice-president in 1984. Later, he became the owner of the
Ionikos F.C.. Under his owinership the club was promoted to
Alpha Ethniki for the first time in their history in 1989. The following year he stepped down as president and no one was willing to allocate 50 million to convert the club into a football club. Then Nikos Kanellakis appeared and took over the team.
AEK Athens Football Club In the summer of 1992, Melissanidis alongside his business partner, Ioannis Karras bought the shares of
Andreas Zafiropoulos and became the major shareholders of
AEK Athens F.C., with the former becoming the president in 1992–93 and 1994–95 season. During their ownership the club faced great success, winning 2 championships in a row and became the first Greek team to ever compete in the group stage of the
UEFA Champions League. In 1998 he became once again the chairman of the club, under the ownership of the
ENIC Group, but after the team's elimination from the Champions League qualifiers in 1999, he left the club. On 7 June 2013, Melissanidis became again active for AEK, after they declared bankruptcy, in order to save the club and bring them back to success. The company declared bankruptcy and were relegated to Greece's third tier. The club was reported to owe €170 million ($219 million) in taxes and started the 2013–14 campaign in the
Football League 2, the country's third amateur division. Later, together with other notable AEK fans and old players, they created the non-profit association "Union Friends of AEK" (
Enosi Filon AEK) which took the majority stake of the football club. Since the arrival and return of Melissandis to the club, AEK secured major sponsorship deals which gave them a huge financial boost. Melissanidis secured a €2.1 million sponsorship deal from
OPAP, a €1.5 million contract with Greek Telecommunications company
Nova Sports and a €1 million sponsorship deal with
Fujitsu. Melissanidis has unveiled plans also for a new stadium in
Nea Filadelfia, where the
old stadium of AEK was placed. On 2 October 2013, the board of AEK Athens, under Dimitris Melissanidis, presented plans for the
new stadium to the municipality of
Nea Filadelfeia, in order to gain permission to build. A new 4-star UEFA system stadium will be built, seating between 32,500 and 35,000 spectators. The cost of this project is estimated to be around €70-80 million. It is modelled after the
Agia Sophia church in
Constantinople, as AEK has its roots there. Around 1,500-2,000 new jobs will become available and the neighbourhood is expected to benefit largely from this endeavour. The structural design of the stadium was designed by
Italian architect Massimo Majowiecki and the architectural design by the Greek architect Athanasius Kyratsous. Majowiecki is most known for designing the home ground of the
Juventus Stadium. In July 2024, he left the presidency of AEK, handing over its leadership and his package of shares to the shipowner
Marios Iliopoulos, owner of Seajet, who bought the company's shares for 90 million euros.
Emma Delta & OPAP Melissanidis, via his own company Geonama Holdings, for €652 million. According to Reuters, OPAP was the European biggest betting firm, as of 2008. Dimitris Melissanidis is a major shareholder in OPAP and is the largest investor, investing €157 million in the takeover. At the signing, Dimitris Melissanidis ended his statement by commenting that "OPAP is turning a page". On 18 February 2022 it was announced that the Melissanidis family had sold its entire stake in OPAP to Allwyn, owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, for a price of EUR 327.4 million. This development is not unrelated to the lawsuits that Mr. Dimitris Melissanidis, his son George Melissanidis and their companies are facing in connection with Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, especially since Allwyn has announced its plans to publicly list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), working in partnership with special purpose acquisition company Cohn Robbins Holdings Corp. (CRHC). ==Other==