Elliniko transaction date pushed further back to end-March 2018
The completion of the concession of the old Athens airport plot at Elliniko is being postponed until early next year, according to the latest edition of the updated bailout agreement between Athens and its creditors, dated June 13, which Kathimerini has seen.
The previous version of the agreement, dated May 2, had provided for the transaction to be completed by the end of this year, but the new one sets the first quarter of 2018 as the completion date.
That estimate has a direct impact on the privatization program’s revenue targets for this and next year: The target for 2017 is adjusted to 1.9 billion euros, from 2.2 billion in May’s document, while that for 2018 is revised to 2.5 billion from an original 2.3 billion euros. The program also incorporates the revenues of previous years, i.e. 300 million from 2015 and 500 million euros from last year.
The prior actions in terms of privatizations included in the original version of the adjusted bailout agreement of last month remain as they were. They include the ratification of state sell-off fund TAIPED’s adjusted program by the cabinet, the introduction of a new law for licensing a casino in Attica, and the announcement of a tender for a 66 percent stake in gas grid operator DESFA.
Another privatization milestone in the program is the creation of a framework to prepare for a strategic plan regarding the new privatizations hyperfund and its subsidiaries. This framework will exclude TAIPED and the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, and its aim will be the completion of the hyperfund’s strategic plan by November.
A further prior action required is the completion of the internal regulations of the hyperfund and its subsidiaries. This is a known friction point between the government and its credi- tors, as the latter are demanding that the state corporations that enter the hyperfund devise an operation framework based more on corporate governance rules than political intervention.
Finally, the revised agreement provides for the empty seats on the governing board of TAIPED to be filled by the end of next month, for the board of the holdings company to undertake the state corporations (EDIS) to be manned by end-August, and for the assessment and appointment of a new administration at Public Properties Company SA (ETAD) to be concluded by the end of July.