Cosco - Only Bidder for Piraeus Port
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Monday, December 21, 2015
China’s Cosco Pacific is understood to be the only party interested in the acquisition of the 51 percent stake (plus another 15 percent) of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), reports Kathimerini.
Alexis Tsipras's government had halted the sale after winning elections in January but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in the summer. The deadline for final bids was 1700 GMT on Monday.
The Hong Kong-listed firm was the only party to submit a timely binding offer in the context of the tender proclaimed in 2014 by the state privatization fund (TAIPED) by Monday’s deadline, four hours before it expired.
All signs point to the absence of a second offer for the stake, which could have created some competition for the asset up for sale.
Despite expectations, it appears that the country is still a long way from becoming the holy grail of investors around the world – which may explain why TAIPED refrained from announcing anything on the offers submitted. In a statement issued on Monday it said the details of the interested buyers will only be released upon the opening of the binding bids on January 12.
Greece has said that China's Cosco Group, Denmark's container terminal operator APM Terminals and Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services were interested in the sale.