Tender for PPC units ends in utter failure

The Public Power Corporation tender for the concession of the lignite plants at Meliti and Megalopoli has ended in failure, as was expected.

The PPC board rejected Mytilineos SA’s bid for the Meliti plants on Friday, as well as the below-par offer by the Sev.en Energy-GEK Terna consortium for the entire portfolio that PPC is selling.

Mytilineos’s offer for the Meliti plants was 25 million, while the pricing by the independent consultant that PPC head Manolis Panagiotakis revealed on Friday was 153 million for the Meliti units, and 147 million for the two at Megalopoli. The offer by the Greek-Czech consortium was 103 million, but also included exclusions from the provisions of PPC’s proposed contract.

Mytilineos did not respond to PPC’s call for an improved offer, while the distance between its bid and the independent consultant’s reasonable value left PPC with no room for a positive response.

Interest is now focused on the next move, given the country’s pledge for PPC’s divestment. Concerns are growing at the Energy Ministry and at PPC that the creditors will force the power giant to part with its valuable hydroelectric plants, though PPC said in its statement that it would repeat the same tender.