Greece appoints new board at privatisation agency to prop post-pandemic recovery

Greece has appointed a new, larger board of directors at its privatisation agency to prepare investment projects under a post-pandemic recovery scheme along with keeping the state assets sale plan on track, its sovereign wealth fund HCAP said on Wednesday.

Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP), which supervises Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) said that Dimitris Politis will be the new chief executive of a new, six-member board, replacing Riccardo Lambiris.

Politis, who has worked in the banking sector and has experience in attracting investments, will take over in August and oversee a new unit at HRADF which will prepare key investment projects, HCAP said in a statement.

Athens has raised more than 7 billion euros ($8.49 billion)from state asset sales since HRADF was set up in 2011 at the start of Greece’s decade-long financial crisis to help the euro zone’s most indebted country carry out an ambitious privatisation scheme.

It aims to raise 1.8 billion euros from the programme, which includes the long-term lease of a former airport site in Athens, this year, up from about 50 million euros in 2020, when the pandemic stalled its efforts.

[Reuters]