Greece Sets Deadline for DESFA Gas Grid Sale
Greece's privatisation agency (HRADF) has pushed back to Feb. 16 the deadline to submit binding offers for a 66 percent stake in natural gas grid operator DESFA, sources close to the process said on Wednesday.
Interested investors had sought an extension from a previous Dec. 22 deadline, expecting HRADF to give them a new date in February.
One of the sources said HRADF set the date at a board meeting last month.
HRADF had earlier identified the two investor groups qualified to proceed to the next phase of the tender and the submission of binding bids as Spain's Regasificadora del Noroeste (Reganosa) and a consortium of Italy's Snam, Spain's Enagas, Belgium's Fluxys and Dutch Gasunie.
The asset sale is part of a privatisation scheme under Greece's multi-billion euro bailout with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
DESFA owns and operates Greece's natural gas network and a liquefied natural gas terminal off the Greek capital Athens.
Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou
