TAIPED

If the Greek civil administration had always operated at the pace it has been over the last couple of weeks, Greece would rival Denmark in state efficiency.

Greece's privatization agency TAIPED has invited expressions of interest for a 30 percent stake in Athens International Airport SA (AIA), operator of the country's biggest airport.

State sell-off fund TAIPED has started the process for hiring consultants ahead of a tender for the utilization of marinas and cruise activity on the popular holiday island of Myconos and for the marina of Rhodes, as the timetable provides for the invitation of interest to be issued later this year.

The government tabled an amendment on Monday to the concession contract for betting on horse racing for 20 years.

The amendment, which will be voted on by the House on Tuesday, includes three main changes to the contract signed by state sell-off fund TAIPED and OPAP gaming company in 2015.

The acquisition of railway carriage maintenance company Rosco by Italian-owned railway service operator Trainose has been completed, making the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane subsidiary the dominant player in the local market.
The 100 percent stake in Rosco sold for 22 million euros.

The new, revised program for TAIPED privatizations, published on Friday, contains no references as to when the long-delayed development of the old Athens airport plot at Elliniko in southern Athens might finally start. The other major issue for the state sell-off fund is highway maintenance company Egnatia Odos SA, which is currently mired in red tape.

The Energy Ministry has launched a last-ditch effort this week to present the European Commission with an alternative scenario to avert the threat of Public Power Corporation having to part with some of its hydroelectric plants.

State sell-off fund TAIPED is calling a tender for the commissioning of technical and legal consultants for the concession of the marinas on Myconos (pictured) and Rhodes, aiming to start the utilization process within this summer.

Privatizations will speed up in the first half of the year, although we have entered an election period and the pace is expected to slow, Aris Xenofos, who heads the TAIPED sell-off fund, told the Athens Energy Forum on Monday.

The two candidate investors vying for 50.1 percent of Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE), Vitol and Glencore, are seeking partners to submit joint binding bids for the majority stake in the listed company by January 2019.