Greece expects to wrap up talks on extending Athens airport concession in September

Thessaloniki Port Authority SA

18/07/2016 19:08

ATHENS, July 18 (Reuters) - Negotiations between Greece and 
shareholders of the country's biggest airport to extend a 
concession deal by 20 years are likely to be wrapped by 
September, the head of the country's privatisations agency, 
Stergios Pitsiorlas, said on Monday. 
    Under a third EU/IMF bailout agreement signed last year, 
Greece promised to renew an agreement with Germany-based 
AviaAlliance and Greek energy group Copelouzos, allowing them to 
operate Athens International Airport (AIA) until 2046. 
    Responding to questions by journalists, Pitsiorlas said the 
privatisations agency would launch a tender to lease the Egnatia 
toll motorway in northern Greece in early autumn, and would 
relaunch a tender for rail maintenance company ROSCO this week. 
    He said Greece expected bids for a majority stake in the 
country's second-largest port in Thessaloniki towards the end of 
October. Also under its bailout, Greece will sell a 67 percent 
stake in the port and investors will be asked to make mandatory 
investments of about 220 million euros in the port, sources have 
told Reuters. 
    Privatisations have been a key condition of Greece's 
international bailouts since 2010 but political resistance and 
bureaucratic snags mean few have gone ahead so far. 
 
 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Writing by Karolina Tagaris) 
 ((karolina.tagaris@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376 469; 
Reuters Messaging: karolina.tagaris.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: EUROZONE GREECE/PRIVATISATION