Privatization

Greece has short-listed six investors in the sale of its state-controlled gas distribution network DEPA Infrastructure, the country's privatization agency said on Tuesday.

The government has opened the way for the further privatization of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE) through a legislative adjustment to the environmental framework, though the process itself will not start before this fall.

The coronavirus pandemic has created major uncertainties in the project for streamlining the state corporations controlled by the Hellenic Company of Assets and Participations (EESYP) and in the privatizations program of state asset utilization fund TAIPED, according to a European Commission report released on Wednesday.

Greece will raise only a fraction of what it initially expected from privatizations this year, as the coronavirus downturn has forced it to put planned asset sales on hold to avoid low offers.

Greece plans to sell majority stakes in four ports as part of a privatization plan agreed with its lenders after the country exited the bailouts in 2018, a document from the state privatization agency (TAIPED) showed on Tuesday.

Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev assigned the State Agency for National Security the task of carrying out a full inspection of the entire privatization process and ex-post control by the ministries, agencies and other state institutions in charge of the process.

The future of troubled nickel company Larco depends on the success of the complex undertaking of its privatization, which will start immediately.

Data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development indicate that Greeks cover 35 percent of their health costs out of their own pockets (compared to an OECD member-country average of 21 percent). 

State privatizations fund TAIPED has proclaimed an international tender for the utilization of a property of 165,460.40 square meters at the former working site supporting the construction of the Rio-Antirrio bridge.

Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE) will be among the first privatization projects the new government intends to advance, but using a different plan this time.