ATHENS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Greek authorities pulled the plug on Tuesday at one of the country's historic companies, steel manufacturer Halyvourgiki, over 31.4 million euros (36 million U.S. dollars) debt to the Public Power Corporation, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
Starting business in 1925, the family of Theodoros Angelopoulos established a company which turned into a giant during the second half of the 20th century thanks to the construction boom in Greece.
In 2009, just before the start of the Greek debt crisis, Halyvourgiki had made a 300 million euro worth investment to modernize its production line.
Liquidity problems due to the slump in the construction sector in Greece during the years of the crisis combined with a still ongoing family feud in courts over control of the company's management, brought Halyvourgiki to her knees.
Between 2010 and 2016 construction of buildings in Greece dropped by at least 59 percent, according to a report by the European Construction Sector Observatory.
Halyvourgiki's factory at Elefsina, some 20 kilometers west of Athens, was barely in operation in the past three years.
In 2015 the company posted 16.8 million euro turnover and had debts exceeding 400 million euros.
From the almost 3,000 employees in the payroll in 2013 approximately 200 had remained in the company until this week. (1 euro= 1.14 U.S. dollars)
