ATHENS: Russian giant Gazprom yesterday said it had pulled out of the privatisation process for Greek state gas operator DEPA, citing concerns about the company’s viability.
“We did not receive adequate guarantees that DEPA’s financial situation will not deteriorate until the deal is concluded,” Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in a statement.
“The takeover procedure could last another year after the end of the tender,” he added.
Greek reports said the European Union had reservations about a possible sale to Gazprom which is a key gas supplier to Greece. The Athens stock exchange had earlier closed with losses of 4.69 percent.
According to reports, DEPA is owed at least ¤400m by Greek independent electricity producers and industry.
Deputy energy minister Makis Papageorgiou said a new tender would be proclaimed for DEPA, and that Azerbaijani state energy firm SOCAR had tabled a proposal for DESFA, the DEPA subsidiary that handles Greece’s gas transmission system.
“The new tender will be held under better conditions,” Papageorgiou said, according to state news agency ANA, noting that the previous process had been launched amid fears that crisis-hit Greece would be forced out of the euro.
Papageorgiou added that SOCAR’s bid increased chances that gas-rich Azerbaijan will later in June support the construction of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline — a project Greece is supporting over the rival Nabucco pipeline that would up to Austria.
The Greek government had expected a sale after Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller visited Athens three times in the last two months, and even met with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
In return for two EU-IMF bailouts, Greece has pledged to raise ¤9.5bn ($12.4bn) in asset sales by 2016, a target that was originally ¤50bn.
The privatisation drive has had a slow start and revenue goals have been repeatedly scaled back since it began in 2010.
The state privatisation agency has also changed three managers in less than a year.
Greece must raise ¤2.6bn ($3.4bn) in asset sales this year. The state last month sold a 33 percent stake in Greece’s gaming monopoly OPAP to Greco-Czech consortium Emma Delta for nearly ¤700m, its largest sale so far.
AFP
