The reasons for the failure of the Hellenic Petroleum tender

After 12 months of preparation, the tender for the sale of a 50.1 percent stake in Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) ended in failure on Wednesday, as neither of the two consortiums that had originally expressed an interest submitted a binding financial offer.

The main reason, according to sources from the consortiums, was the veto rights and various privileges the state wanted to preserve for itself as a minority stakeholder.

Also important was the issue of the ELPE subsidiary involved in hydrocarbon extraction, in which the state insists on retaining 51 percent of shares.

The government’s persistence on all that was to curb reaction within the ruling party.