DEPA tender postponed by three months
The second stage of the tender for the privatization of DEPA Commercial is heading for a fresh postponement; this is mainly related to the uncertainties stemming from the Lavrentis Lavrentiadis case and the course of the company after he was partially vindicated regarding the debts of his company ELFE to Public Gas Corporation (DEPA).
The deadline for the submission of binding bids had been set for end-December, but it is now being shifted to March 2021, according to an informal written update by state selloff fund TAIPED to candidate buyers. TAIPED also informed them that the physical data rooms that were expected to open in the next few days will now open in November, while the virtual data rooms opened for investors on Wednesday.
Investors have not been informed of the reasons that led to the postponement of the deadline for binding bids, and they are expecting a formal update by TAIPED by the end of the week.
Competent sources say the obvious reason relates to DEPA’s finances, which improved in Q3, but the less obvious one concerns ELFE’s pending debts to DEPA, seen at 120 million euros.
