Hellenic Petroleum

Foreign investors are making a dynamic comeback in the Greek market of renewable energy sources (RES), which has accounted for the biggest deals in the business sector in the last couple of years.

The decisions on the privatization of Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) have been postponed until after the elections, it has emerged from informal statements on the issue by Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis as well as the estimates of the oil group's officials. This follows last week's failed effort to concede a 50.1 percent stake in the group.

The final two of four concessions for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in the Ionian Sea are set to be signed on Tuesday by Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis, the head of Hellenic Hydrocarbon Research Management, Ioannis Basias, and the contractors. 

Bank stocks' recent gains were bound to lead to profit taking at some point. That point came on Thursday, but barely affected the rest of the market, as mid-caps and small-caps headed higher to split the board between winners and losers.

After 12 months of preparation, the tender for the sale of a 50.1 percent stake in Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) ended in failure on Wednesday, as neither of the two consortiums that had originally expressed an interest submitted a binding financial offer.

There was little chance of the government changing the economic policy mix it has relied on for the past four years in the runup to elections. Instead, it remains capable only of running up excessive primary surpluses through overtaxation while failing completely to revive the real economy.

It is common knowledge that major investments are needed for Greece to definitively exit the crisis and stagnation.

Analysts and experts say that Greece needs about ten billion euros in investments annually to reach a growth rate that will allow the country to make up lost ground.

Instead, we see that efforts to attract investment usually reach an impasse.

No binding bids have been submitted for a majority stake in Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum, dealing a blow to a key part of a planned sell-off of state assets mandated by international bailouts.

Greece has set an April 3 deadline for shortlisted investors to submit binding bids for a majority stake in its biggest oil refiner, Hellenic Petroleum, two sources close to the sale said on Wednesday.
Greece and Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings are jointly selling a 50.1 percent stake in Hellenic.

After another impasse at Monday's Euro Working Group, the Athens bourse shook off the pressure on bank stocks on Tuesday, with the majority of stocks and the benchmark heading higher on a day of healthy turnover.