Cosco’s Offer for Piraeus Port Due
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Cosco Pacific is expected to submit an improved bid for the controlling stake in Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) on Wednesday that is set to be discussed at the board meeting of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED), reports Kathimerini.
Cosco was the sole bidder for a 67 percent stake OLP, the manager of the country's biggest port which is a gateway to Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa. The agency has asked Cosco to improve its offer.
Reliable sources say that the new Cosco offer will be "realistically good" and will likely exceed both valuations that the two independent consultants had made for the TAIPED privatization fund.
"Cosco and TAIPED have come very close, with most of the distance between them covered by the Chinese company," a source has told Kathimerini, which understands the deal will likely be agreed Today (Wednesday).
Piraeus Port is valued at $367 million based on Monday’s share price. A source close to the process said that Cosco has offered about $300 million for Piraeus Port, a premium of about 22 percent, according to Reuters calculations.
The leftist government of Alexis Tsipras halted the sale of the port and other state assets after winning elections in January last year but resumed the process under a third bailout of up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion) agreed in August.
Piraeus Port workers are against the sale because they fear it will lead to job cuts, while Greece's Shipping Minister Thodoris Dritsas has said having a sole bidder was not the best outcome one should expect.