ATHENS: State sell-off fund TAIPED intends to sell 67 percent of Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH) in a single transaction and not in two packages, as previously announced and as was the case with Piraeus Port Authority, while the submission of binding offers is to be put off till early 2017.
The new draft contract being prepared by TAIPED dictates a single transaction for OLTH. Officials familiar with the matter said that this shift is meant to serve the investment at the port’s Dock 6, as the preferred bidder will undertake its construction, expected to cost some 180 million euros.
Reliable sources say there are at least four interested investors eyeing the 67 percent stake in OLTH out of the eight which remain in the game. They are Japan’s Mitsui, Danish-controlled APM Terminals, Dubai Ports World and ICTS of the Philippines.
The reason for the likely postponement of the bid submission deadline is the constant delays in the drafting of the new concession contract for the port, which keeps having to be revised in order to accommodate the government’s promises to the local authorities. Bear in mind that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had promised the City of Thessaloniki that it would be given Dock 1 of OLTH, while the Ministry of Culture is seeking control of the Port Museum that will operate within the OLTH installations.
