Greece to Privatize Piraeus Port

 

The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, which sells real estate, infrastructure and other government holdings, is sending a revised tender offer to investors, including China Cosco Holding Co, to solicit bids for a stake in the Piraeus Port Authority SA.

 

Under the new terms of the port tender, investors will be invited to purchase a 51 percent stake in the manager of Greece’s largest port, instead of a 67 percent stake previously offered, and won’t be offered the management of services for ferries, which was part of the original tender submitted to investors last year, sources said. 

 

They expect to close the sale before the end of the year, they added.

 

Meanwhile, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that his government will renegotiate the sale of the old Athens airport of Hellinikon and of Piraeus Port (OLP). Tsipras said privatizations would be among the concessions that the government would offer in exchange for a deal. 

 

Alternate Shipping Minister Thodoris Dritsas stated that "there are pressing conditions that no one can ignore," admitting that Greece will have to proceed with the privatization process for the Piraeus.

 

He added that the entire planning of the administration is determined by the course of the new agreement the country will make with the Eurozone, as the rules of the country's participation in the bloc form a specific framework of moves. 

 

Dritsas went on to say that besides the port authorities of Piraeus and Thessaloniki, there has been no interest expressed in other port authorities.