Three Vie To Buy Shipyard

Greece received three bids for the sale of a majority stake in Hellenic (Skaramanga) Shipyards, one of 10 privatizations the development ministry has planned for 2001. "We have three bids, but one bid has no letter of guarantee. It's important that we have two bids that are good. They are what we were expecting," Deputy Development Minister Alekos Kalafatis said. Germany's biggest shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW)-Ferrostaal AG and Greece's Neorion Shipyards subsidiary Elefsina Shipyards submitted binding bids, he said. An expression of continued interest, without a letter of guarantee, came from France's Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie (CMN). Kalafatis told an Athens radio station that sale advisers Alpha Finance were expected to issue their recommendation to the ministry on July 25. "(The advisers) will have evaluated the two offers and conclude on the final proposal, which of the two is stronger," he said. The actual transfer of shares will take about two months, he added. - (Reuters)