Greek MOU foresees rapid sale of ports, grid operator, airports

[BERLIN] Greece will move rapidly to privatise its ports, regional airports and its power grid operator under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreed with its international lenders.

According to the 29-page MOU, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, Greek privatisation proceeds, excluding bank shares, are expected to total 6.4 billion euros between 2015 and 2017.

The MOU lists a range of measures that the Greek government must implement in order to obtain a new three-year bailout programme that is expected to total roughly 85 billion euros.

Under the agreement, Athens has committed to take "irreversible steps" by October 2015 to privatise grid operator ADMIE unless an alternative scheme offering equivalent results is presented.

Binding bid dates for Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports must be announced by the end of October. Greek authorities have also committed to the sale of the country's regional airports "at the current terms" with the winning bidder already selected, according to the MOU.

At the end of last year, Germany's Fraport was named preferred bidder in a deal to operate 14 regional airports in Greece, but the transaction has stalled since the left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras took power in January.

REUTERS