In 1920 Manuel Kulukundis (1898–1988) from the Aegean island of Kasos moved to London, England and started work in a shipping office. In 1921 he and his cousin Minas Rethymnis founded the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking business in London. R&K was nominally a ship management company, but through a network of family and business relationships this was increasingly intertwined with actual ownership by members of the Kulukundis and related families.
