FACTBOX-Five facts about Greece's new finance minister

Jan 7 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis picked Yannis Papathanassiou as the country's new finance minister, replacing George Alogoskoufis in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at reversing the conservative government's slide in opinion polls.

Following are five facts about Papathanassiou:

* Papathanassiou, 55, an electrical engineer by training, was head of the Athens Chamber of Commerce from 1993 to 2000 and board vice-chairman at gas company DEPA in 1993.

* He was first elected to parliament with the conservative New Democracy party in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004 and 2007.

* He served as deputy development minister from March 2004 when New Democracy swept to power, ending more than 20 years of socialist rule.

* He was appointed deputy finance minister in Sept. 2007 after New Democracy won a second term with a slim parliamentary majority.

* He is married and has two daughters. He speaks English, French and German. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos)