Greece awards motorway lease to GEK Terna venture in latest state asset sale

GEK TERNA

29/03/2024 16:26

ATHENS, March 29 (Reuters) - Greece has awarded the
long-term lease of a key toll road to a joint venture between
Greek construction group GEK Terna  HRMr.AT  and French
engineering company Egis for 1.5 billion euros ($1.62 billion)
in its latest sale of state assets, its privatisation agency
said on Friday.
    Greece aims to raise more than 5.8 billion euros this year
from the sale of state assets including the sale in February of
a 30% stake in Athens International Airport in an initial public
offering for 790 million euros.
    The joint venture between GEK Terna, which owns a 75% stake
in the venture, and Egis will spend more than 420 million euros
to upgrade the Egnatia motorway within five years, with total
investment in heavy maintenance reaching 1.8 billion euros
throughout the 35-year period of the lease, privatisation agency
HRADF said in a statement.
    The 658-kilometre highway is a main gateway for passengers
and goods from western Europe and Italy to Greece, linking its 
western port of Igoumenitsa to the northeastern border with
Turkey.
    Workers at state-owned Egnatia Odos, which currently
operates the motorway, walked off the job on Friday in protest
at the privatisation, which they said would see toll fares
increase.
    Equity stake sales and the lease of state assets, from ports
and energy companies to real estate, was a plank of Greece's
three international bailouts during its debt crisis, which ended
in 2018, to attract investment and boost competitiveness.
    Athens, which has raised more than 9 billion euros from
privatisations since 2011, plans to sell stakes in ports and
marinas, including on the island of Crete.
    Proceeds from the Egnatia lease will be collected later this
year once the Greek parliament approves the contract and safety
certification for tunnels is concluded, a privatisation agency
official told Reuters.


($1 = 0.9269 euros)

 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Susan Fenton)
 ((angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 2102214608;
Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net))