Greece relaunches tender to sell two Airbus planes
Greece has relaunched a tender to sell two Airbus A340-300 planes as part of a state asset sale plan agreed with its international lenders, privatization agency TAIPED said on Monday.
The Greek government, which bought the aircraft from former state carrier Olympic Air in 1999, decided to sell them in 2014 but the process has been delayed because it failed to transfer the assets to TAIPED.
The fund said the tender would take place in one phase on condition that Greece concluded the transfer of the property before the transaction was wrapped up.
TAIPED added that the timely conclusion of the sale was imperative due to the high maintenance and parking costs of the aircraft, and their continuing depreciation.
The agency did not say how much it could raise from the sale.
It has set an April 11 deadline for investors to submit binding offers and expects to conclude the sale in June.
Privatizations have been a key part of Greece’s bailout programs since 2010 but have produced very poor revenues so far due to bureaucracy and political resistance.
[Reuters]
