Greece prepares second wave of privatisations to raise cash
GREECE plans to launch tenders to sell or lease a string of state assets, including its biggest refiner and two largest ports, as it battles to pay down debt and meet the terms of an international bailout.
The deals will be a second wave of privatisations after six projects which are expected to complete in early 2013.
“We have some very significant assets and tenders to launch in the next few months,” Yannis Emiris, head of Greece’s HRADF privatisation agency said yesterday.
Athens plans to launch tenders to sell stakes in refiner Hellenic Petroleum, the country’s two biggest ports in Piraeus and Thessaloniki, its second-biggest water company Thessaloniki Water, and Larco, one of the world’s biggest nickel producers.
The country also plans to seek investors for the country’s biggest airport in Athens, the Egnatia motorway as well as small regional airports and marinas.
The first big sales, natural gas firm DEPA and a 33 per cent stake in gambling firm OPAP, are expected to be completed early next year.