PPC considers tapping bond market
Electricity giant Public Power Corporation is scanning the market with a view to issuing an international corporate bond, following the introduction of streamlining measures that have averted the risk of the utility’s collapse, chairman and chief executive Giorgos Stassis told analysts yon Wednesday while presenting PPC’s first-half financial results.
The newly appointed manager said that the process the utility’s previous administration had started but froze due to PPC’s financial problems will now resume. Stassis did not put a time frame on the power company’s return to the markets, but suggested that the fact streamlining measures were introduced at a time when Greece’s borrowing costs have fallen has paved the way for a market return.
The PPC chief informed analysts and investors that 120 million euros from the increase in power rates will got into the utility’s coffers this year, plus another 532 million in 2020.
As for the securitization of unpaid bills, Stassis said that investors have expressed an interest and are examining the data before submitting offers.
He also made it clear that the power auctions – which in recent years have contributed in PPC’s losses – planned for October will not take place.
