Lenders object to Greece’s alternative to power grid sale
Greece's international lenders have raised objections to a plan Athens has proposed that would let it avoid the privatization of power grid operator ADMIE, a Greek newspaper said on Friday.
Under its latest European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout, Greece must start the sale of a 66 percent stake ADMIE this month or find alternative ways to open up its electricity market. This is part of a list of prior actions to conclude its first bailout review and qualify for further financial aid.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' leftist government wants to split ADMIE, keeping ownership of the electricity transmission infrastructure in state hands and spinning off the rest to private investors.
Neither the creditors nor the government has said how much the transaction should raise. Greece's privatization program has been dogged for years by political, legal and trade union obstacles and has so far raised only about 4 billion euros compared with an initial target of 50 billion euros by 2015.
Kathimerini newspaper said technical teams from the lenders met on Thursday with officials from the energy ministry, energy market regulator and dominant power utility PPC , which owns AMDIE.
The paper reported, citing unnamed sources, that Greece was asked to present another version of its initial plan to divest a majority stake in ADMIE in the next coming days.
An energy ministry official confirmed the meetings but said that Greece was working together with the lenders "in the direction of the alternative plan."
[Reuters]
