Greece sees bids for Olympic sale in December

Greece expects non-binding bids for ailing Olympic Airlines early in December and aims to conclude the tender by January, Transport Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said in an interview published on Saturday. Greece's conservative government split the flag carrier into three units in September and launched a tender to privatise them. This ended years of efforts to find a single buyer for the company, which loses an estimated 2 million euros a day.

"We expect non-binding bids in the beginning of December ... which means applicants will then also make an indicative initial offer," Hatzidakis told the financial weekly Isotimia. "Our aim is to conclude the tender early in January, after receiving the binding offers."

The transport ministry said earlier this week that 13 investors had expressed an interest in buying parts of the state-run Olympic Airlines group [OLY.UL].

Qatar's state carrier, U.S. charter companies SkyOne and Chrysler Aviation, budget airlines Sky Europe and Italian MyAir, Kuwait's Fouad Al Ghanim Group and new group Athens Airways are interested in Olympic's flight operations.

Goldair, Swissport, Hellenic Cargo, Fouad Al Ghanim Group, Athens Air, and Greek builder Ellaktor expressed an interest in Olympic's ground handling operations, while Iberia, Athens Air and the Kuwaiti group are interested in Olympic's technical maintenance operations.

Not all groups that expressed interest were named.

"In the binding bids phase all names will be revealed," said Hatzidakis. He also said it was possible one investor would acquire all three units.

Greece has wrangled for years with Brussels over state aid to Olympic. The latest privatisation plan has been approved by the European Commission, which agreed to suspend action over illegal state subsidies if the sale went ahead.

09.11.2008