Grupo Lakas S. A. (“GL”) is a duly constituted Panamanian corporation formed in 2005 to act as the holding company for the expanding group of companies operated in Panama and Peru by the Lakas family, descendants of former President of the Republic of Panama (1969-1978) - Demetrio Basilio Lakas. GL originated with the engineering and construction company first founded by Eng. Demetrio Lakas, amalgamated with several mining interests accumulated over the years, and expanded with the acquisition in 1980 of the then island of Samba Bonita, located about 6 nautical miles NNE of the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal and near the exit of the Cativa Estuary into Bahia Las Minas where Texaco operated at the time the Panama Refinery.

During the 1980s, a land-fill bridge was constructed to connect Samba Bonita to the mainland. A second land-fill bridge was installed connecting Samba Bonita to Largo Remo. The Port was licensed as the first private Port of the Republic of Panama in 1988, whose contract served as a model for the subsequent port privatizations.

From its origins as a group dedicated to architecture, engineering, construction, and mining, the expansion was directed to fuel resource development, electrical power generation, and maritime dredging. Originally centered in ventures in Panama, the group expanded internationally in 2004. Today, the activities of the Group range from Power Generation, and Engineering Construction to Maritime Services and Mineral & Fuel Resource Development.

History

Following his discharge from the Greek Army at the end of World War I, Basilio Demetrio Lakas, grandfather of Otto Demetrio Lakas, emigrated from Greece to Chicago seeking fortune. After thriving for a number of years in Chicago, he elected to move to Panama where he started the family business in the mid 1920s by opening a restaurant in the city of Colon. As demand grew he expanded the family business into Real Estate and became one of the pioneers in the shrimp fishing industry along the Caribbean side of the isthmus. Basilio Demetrio Lakas left a record of commitment to his many friends and the community and is remembered as a noted benefactor to education in the province of Colon.

As Basilio Demetrio Lakas attracted more family members from his native Greece, he further expanded the family business. Recognizing Panama’s growing need for development, he sent his son Demetrio Basilio Lakas to study in the USA. Demetrio Basilio Lakas, father of Otto Demetrio Lakas, returned from his studies to Panama with degrees in business administration from Texas Wesleyan University, and architecture and civil engineering from Texas Tech University.

Demetrio Basilio Lakas’ return to Panama coincided with his father’s business expansion into diversified real estate acquisitions and development in both Colon and Panama City, at either entrance to the Panama Canal. During these first years after his return to Panama, Demetrio Basilio Lakas actively pursued his professional career. Along with construction and development of the family’s real estate projects, he also developed the Tagaropolis housing project in Colon and the Pepsi Cola plant in Panama City. During this early stage of his career Demetrio Basilio Lakas developed a strong friendship with Omar Torrijos, at the time an officer in the "Guardia Nacional de Panamá" (Panama's military organization).

In 1968, Colonel Torrijos led a military coup that resulted in the establishment of the "Junta Provisional de Gobierno" (provisional military junta) to govern Panama. Torrijos turned to his friend for help to install a civilian government administration, asking him initially to take over leadership of the Social Security Agency, a then bankrupt organization in much need of overhaul.

Within the year, Lakas had the Social Security Agency operating in the black. As the need arose for a fully civilian government, Omar Torrijos turned again to his trusted friend, Demetrio Basilio Lakas, and appointed him as President of the Junta Provisional de Gobierno de Panamá. Lakas and Torrijos saw this as an opportunity to break with Panama’s oligarchical past, enabling them to lay the foundations for a free democratic state with open opportunity for all Panamanians. This led to a frantic period of activity, wherein the nation’s labor code was drafted and implemented, as well as 95% of the articles of Panama’s Constitution, most of which are still in effect today. With a solid Constitution, directed at providing access to education, labor, and health care for the population at large, a revamped social security system, and sound international financing available to fuel Panama’s emergence as a modern state, the Military Junta, led by General Omar Torrijos, called for general elections in 1972.

Demetrio Basilio Lakas was elected as Panama’s first President under the new Constitution for a term of six years. During those six years, Panama experienced the building of Tocumen International Airport which is still in operation today, a dramatic increase in the transportation infrastructure throughout the country, the technical development of agribusiness in Panama, and the construction of a petroleum pipeline connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Lakas further dedicated his administration to construction of large low-income housing projects, the first of its kind for Panama, and a variety of other nation-building endeavours. But as may well be remembered most of all, Lakas coordinated the effort during the Nixon and Carter administrations, which eventually culminated in the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaty in 1977. This Treaty returned sovereignty to Panama over all of its territory, ending a generational struggle and marking Panama´s recovery of the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone.

In 1978, after a decade of public service, Demetrio Basilio Lakas returned to private life, to administer the family interests. He acquired the island of Samba Bonita, then an abandoned cement factory, and attached it via a short land bridge to the town of Cativa just south of Colon. He centered all of the family’s maritime operations on Samba Bonita, and built a maritime pier capable of sustaining commercial operations on the north side of the island. He further constructed a land bridge between the island of Samba Bonita and the island of Largo Remo directly to the north, creating a protected harbor and turning basin for what became, in 1988, Panama’s first privately owned and operating port. During this time, Lakas acquired mineral rights and developed manganese deposits in Colon Province and other Panamanian mining ventures in precious metals. Demetrio Basilio Lakas died in 1999, just prior to the completion of the final transfer to Panama of the Panama Canal.

Like their father, Basilio Demetrio Lakas and Otto Demetrio Lakas also attended Texas Tech. Basilio Demetrio Lakas returned to Panama as a civil engineer in 1988, taking over the engineering side of the business. Given the economic crisis brought about by the political unrest that the Republic of Panama experienced during the late 1980´s, Basilio Demetrio Lakas was compelled to expand the engineering branch of the Group into Houston Texas.

Otto Lakas took over the administration and business development of the Port of Samba Bonita, and participated in restructuring family operations which were not contributing to a unified business development. Subsequent to his father’s death, Otto Demetrio Lakas redirected the family’s business interests into a long term general development plan that called for the implementation of Panama’s first heavy industrial base directed at exports from the Port of Samba Bonita, and for the expansion of the Port into a full service industrial facility with an emphasis on transshipment of bulk goods. The fundamental ideas that were the main undercurrents of this plan, directed at expanding the industrial base of Panama and making Panama energy self-sufficient, were later adopted as part of Panama’s Energy Development Plan, as published by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce during 2005.

The general development plan called for installing an industrial park on Samba Bonita with access to inexpensive energy. Building on a combined study conducted during the 1980s in conjunction with Los Alamos National Laboratory, Otto Demetrio Lakas expanded the family mining interests by acquiring Concession rights in 1998 to the two major peat deposits in Panama where particular geographical conditions permitted for the development of fuel grade peat. Three new companies were created under his leadership to foster peat development and to construct and operate a peat fired power generation plant capable of dispatching reliably, to the electrical transmission grid of Panama and to the proposed industrial park of Samba Bonita, an inexpensive and completely domestic source of energy.

Pursuant to its general development plan, Grupo Lakas initiated dredging of the maritime ways and turning basin at the port to a depth of 54 feet, entered into negotiations with world leading companies in the areas of bulk and liquids storage operations and shipyard and port operations.

Sensing the approaching international financial crisis that took place the second half of 2008, Grupo Lakas sold an 85% shareholding in Egechilca (GL 538 MW gas-fired power plant development in Peru) to AEI for $120 million in June 2008. The company was renamed Fenix Power Peru, and iniciated commercial operations in 2013, achieving full generating capacity of 570 MW in combined cicle consuming natural gas. The Plant is the most efficient thermoelectric power generating plant in Peru.

Internationally, beginning in 2009, operations were directed at building on our experiences in the energy sector, expanding into water development projects, agroindustry and forest diversification projects. Towards that end sister companies were founded and are currently engaged in developing hydroelectric power generation projects as well as various gas-fired thermoelectric power generation projects throughout Peru.

Domestically, GL continues to develop its shipyard, bulk terminals, and port operations, as well as continuing to improve its maritime ways. In addition, progress is being made in the fuel and mineral resources, mining and the energy sector. Among its development targets, Grupo Lakas is positioning to intall a LPG fuel terminal at the Port of Samba Bonita to supply planned power generation projects in proximity.

The outlook for the future is promising and GL is analyzing several prospective projects to continue its way towards the fulfillment of its mission: Progress with sustainable development.