For the second half of this year, at least three major denationalizations, each at different stages, have been de facto postponed due to the upcoming announcement of national elections. And this is because almost all privatizations, especially when they are associated with concessions, require not only ministerial decisions and other legislative acts, but above all the approval of the parliament.

This mainly concerns the concession of the Egnatia road, which GEK TERNA received after a corresponding tender at a price of 1.496 billion euros, and the concession of the Attica road, which, however, is still at the beginning of the second stage of the tender. , i.e. immediately prior to the submission of binding financial proposals.

In the second half of 2023, Athens International Airport is now scheduled to be listed on the Athens Stock Exchange by contributing 30% of the share capital to the transaction from the TAIPED portfolio. There are other unresolved issues in this particular transaction, besides the elections, which have not yet been resolved, including the finalization of the shareholder agreement. It is recalled that the shareholders of AIA, in addition to TAIPED, which owns 30%, are Superfund (with 25%), Avi Alliance GmbH (26.7%) and Avi Alliance Capital GmbH (13.3%), both interests of the Canadian insurance fund PSP Investments and family D. Kopelous (5%). The model being promoted for the AIA is to give PSP the right to buy at a premium through an additional 10% process to acquire 50% + 1 share capital, providing management and allowing a wider range of investors to buy from the remaining TAIPED 20%.

Elections deprive Parliament of the power to authorize and issue ministerial decisions.

The Heraklion Port Authority concession, which is in the second stage of the tender, is also de facto scheduled for the second half of the year, but there are already many requests to postpone the date for submission of binding proposals, which was set for the end of March. In the second half of the year, new auctions will be announced, such as, for example, properties in the Ververonda location in Porto Heli. At the same time, competitions that are “ongoing” and are either in the initial phase or have a preferred investor, for example, for the Markopoulos Olympic Center or Loutropolis in Kamena Vourla respectively, due to the need to resolve various outstanding issues through ministerial and other decisions, it is assumed that they will also have to wait for the appearance of a new government.

An exception may be the port organization of Igoumenitsa, where the Italian group Grimaldi Group has been announced as a concessionaire for 84 million, and the contract can be signed before March 20. If by that time the parliament is not dissolved, and the scenario, which, according to market circles, is gaining more chances in the last 24 hours, may have time to vote for the concession agreement.

Of course, it’s not just the TAIPED contests that will have to wait for the two likely pre-election contests. The same is expected to be required for the concession tender for Kalamata Airport, which has shown strong investment interest from syndicated schemes by major Greek and foreign groups and is being conducted by the Ministry of Finance. Of course, the ongoing bidding process for the concession of other of the 23 regional airports in the Superfund’s portfolio is even earlier, and it has started related procedures such as hiring consultants.