PPC pushes back power plants bid deadline because of snap elections

Greece’s electricity utility PPC has pushed back by more than a month a deadline for binding bids for three coal-fired power plants it is selling under a post-bailout agreement, it said on Monday.

PPC, which is 51 percent owned by the state, had set a May 28 deadline for six investors that expressed initial interest in the plants and a license to build a new one in northern Greece.

“After consultation with the relevant (energy) ministry, the date for the submission of bids for the sale of the coal plants is being pushed back to July 15 due to political developments,” PPC said in a filing to the Athens Stock Exchange.

A source close to the sale had told Reuters earlier on Monday that there would be an extension to mid-July, attributing the delay to an forthcoming snap election.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called an early national vote after suffering a heavy defeat by the opposition conservatives in European Parliament elections on Sunday.

Expressions of interest came from Beijing Guohua and Damco Energy, China Western Power Industrial, Sev.En Energy and Indoverse Coal Investments, GEK Terna, ElvalChalkor and Mytilineos.

[Reuters]