|
|
|
Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-03-04
CONTENTS
[01] New bids put in for OA
[01] New bids put in for OA
Two new bids were put forward for the debt-ridden national carrier
Olympic Airways on Wednesday, one by the private Greek airline
company Aegean Airlines and one by Chrysler Aviation.
The government has already begun negotiations with the two companies
that submitted bids in the original tender for the airline's
privatisation, Marfin Investment Group (MIG) and Swissport.
The Aegean Airlines bid (which, if successful, has also raised
concerns about the creation of a virtual monopoly in domestic
flights) concerns the national carrier's flight operations and
technical base, for which it offers 90 million euros (double the
minimum estimated value according to the state's consultants) and 20
million euros, respectively. Aegean is also willing to buy the
holding company Pantheon for its net equity value, estimated at 60
million euros.
The second bid from Chrysler Aviation is an offer for the entire OA
group (Pantheon, ground service and technical base) for 210 million
euros, while the company has also announced that it will submit an
offer for the acquisition of the rest of OA's assets. According to
its announcement, it will propose that the Greek State retain a
share of up to 25 percent in OA.
The new offers were welcomed by Development Minister Kostis
Hatzidakis as "initially positive", while he added that the
government would continue negotiations with MIG and Swissport until
the end of the week.
|
