Rosco bid deadline put off till June
State sell-off fund TAIPED on Tuesday extended the deadline for the submission of binding bids for carriage maintenance company Rosco until the end of June.
Submission was supposed to have been completed by January 31, but the delay in the privatization of the main railway service company, Trainose, forced the extension of the deadline to June 30.
Another factor the led to the development was the likelihood of new consortiums in the market: The acquisition of Skoda Transportation by China Railway Rolling Stock Corp (CRRC) has changed the game, even though it still is too early to determine the intentions of the Chinese company.
There is also the possible resumption of talks between the new owner of Trainose (Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane) with France’s Alstom regarding the maintenance of the Italian group’s entire train stock. In this context, one cannot rule out a return by the French, who left their mark on the first, failed attempt by TAIPED to sell Rosco.
What may well have been the decisive factor in the move, though, is the demand by the Italians to see the deadline extended, as they have no confidence at all in Greek bureaucracy. They expect to know the state of play on the issue of past state subsidies to Trainose by June.
