OLP puts off approval of Cosco contract

The completion of the transaction for the sale of 67 percent of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) to Cosco is still pending due to obstacles and delays, as demonstrated by Tuesday's interrupted OLP general meeting.

The main issue on the agenda of the extraordinary meeting had been the approval of the concession contract between the Athens-listed company and the Chinese firm, but it never got to be discussed. After the board approved the company's new charter, which excludes union representatives from the board, chairman Yiannis Kouvaris adjourned the meeting and the issue of the concession was postponed until the meeting resumes on June 10.

Although management sources spoke of a technical problem and pointed to the tension created by port workers who had gathered outside demanding to join the meeting, many people in the know discern an effort to strike a political balance.<...