Greece has received three binding bids for a 67% stake in its port in Thessaloniki, the state privatizations agency said at the weekend. The bids came from Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services (ICTS); Dubai-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (DP World); and a consortium comprising German private-equity firm Deutsche Invest Equity Partners, Terminal Link (a subsidiary of CMA CGM) and Russian-Greek investor Ivan Savvidis’s group.
The winning bidder will have to implement investments of at least €180m over the next seven years.
The sale of Thessaloniki Port had begun in July 2014 but was delayed several times because of political opposition and a sequence of strikes by port workers, who claimed that the sale would reduce the value of the port.
Greece completed the sale of a 67% stake in the port of Piraeus, Greece’s largest, in mid-2016 for €368.5m. The buyer was Chinese shipping company China Cosco Holding.