Gazprom’s Alexei Miller will visit Athens to meet the leadership of TAIPED to discuss the terms of the upcoming privatization of DEPA before submitting a binding offer. The other two contenders for DEPA are Russian Sintez and the “M&M Gas” joint venture by Mytilinaios and Vardinogiannis.
The two main issues at hand are the payment of hundreds of millions worth of customer debts towards DEPA and the ability for a refund to the bidder in case of any problems arising.The prospective investors must submit to the State guarantees worth 20% of the price, which are non-refundable, even if the deal is negated due to a third party. The debts of businesses (particularly private electricity producers) are about 400 million euros.
In order to overcome this problem, it seems likely that the debts will be offset by the price paid for DEPA. The President of TAIPED Stelios Stavridis commented on Mega that there are strict terms applicable to everyone in the upcoming privatizations of DEPA and DESFA. It also appears likely that an extension will be granted for potential investors to make an offer for DESFA.
Sintez is expected to submit an offer for DESFA, for which the Azeri Socar and GEK-TERNA joint venture with Jiri Smejc are also interested. The participation of Socar for DESFA will ease the pressure on Greece from the EU and USA about DESFA and DEPA falling under Russian control. Energy market analysts favor a scenario where Gazprom acquires DEPA, while Socar purchases DESFA.
