Approval for Piraeus Port Sale
The National Privatization Fund (TAIPED) sources said that Greece's Court of Audit has approved the sale of a 67 percent in the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) to Chinese Cosco, according to Kathimerini.
Greek national news agency AMNA also reported, citing credible judicial sources that Greek Court of Audit, Greece's supreme administrative court, approved the sale of the majority stake.
On February 17 Greece's privatization fund had declared COSCO Preferred Investor for the sale of the controlling stake in Greece's largest port for 368.5 million euros.
Under the concession deal which expires in 2052, COSCO will invest an extra 350 million euros over the next decade in infrastructure works at Piraeus.
Following the "green light" from the Audit Court, the agreement requires ratification from the Competitiveness Committee before the sale contract is signed and forwarded to the Greek parliament, AMNA noted.
TAIPED accepted Cosco's bid for the majority stake in OLP last month. Cosco was the only interested party that submitted a binding offer by the December deadline.
Meanwhile, Greece’s Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (ΙΟΒΕ) has just released a study regarding the economic effects from the controversial privatization of Piraeus port.
According to the study, tilted appropriately “Economics Effects From the Privatization of Piraeus Port,” some 500 million euros may end up in state coffers between 2016-2025 as a result of China’s Cosco company running and controlling the port.
The Chinese giant will first buy 51 percent of OLP’s shares for 280.5 million euros, with the remaining 16 percent purchased over the next five years for 88 million euros.
According to the study, most of the major economic benefits in actual numbers will occur in 2016 (277 million euros) and 2022 (106 million euros) when, according to the current timetable, the sale of Piraeus port stocks is materialized for 280 million and 80 million, respectively.
