Wolfie: Greek government puts €50bn of national assets up for sale at Claridge's hotel to private equity bosses

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Greek government puts €50bn of national assets up for sale at Claridge's hotel to private equity bosses

For sale are 39 airports, 850 ports, railways, motorways, sewage works, a energy companies, banks, defence groups, thousands of acres of land for development, casinos and Greece's national lottery. George Christodoulakis, Greece's secretary for asset restructuring and privatisations, said the sell-off would raise €50bn (£44bn) towards the €110bn bailout debt.

Nikos Stathopoulous BC Partners says investors are finding it hard to assess the risk of investing into Greece, which means assets will be priced lower than they are worth and the Greek government and European Union, expect.

Aref Lahham, managing director and founding partner of Orion Capital Managers says more than half of the assets up for sale comprises land for commercial or residential development, which is unattractive because of the difficulty of securing financing to build in Greece.

The Greek government hopes to sell €15bn worth of assets by 2012 and €50bn by 2015 Lahham said ‘‘I simply do not believe the timescale. I'm afraid it is not going to happen within times - I'm afraid it is a fire sale’’, George Christodoulakis denies that the sell-off was a fire sale describing it as a ‘‘professionally managed privatisation plan’’.

4 comments:

Wolfie28 June 2011 at 20:05
The social-democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) government's European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors have pressured it into a frenzy of privatisation and spending cuts since the 2008 financial market meltdown.
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Wolfie28 June 2011 at 20:11
Last year the Greek Pasok government imposed measures that included a rise in the average retirement age from 61 to 65, cuts in the state pension and excise taxes on fuel, cigarettes and alcohol. The IMF and ECB are now demanding the government increases taxes, sell of state asset and make further spending cuts to pay the next instalment on Greece's €110bn (£96bn) ‘‘bailout loan’’.
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Wolfie28 June 2011 at 20:15
Prime Minister George Papandreou called on MPs to fulfil their ‘‘patriotic duty’’ by voting for the austerity package, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) members and supporters rallied outside parliament chanting ‘‘Patriotism is what is just for the people and not the profits of capitalism’’.
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Wolfie29 June 2011 at 20:24
Greek parliament votes 155-138 for the EU-IMF austerity package 29/06/2011
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A Future That Works

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Greek government puts €50bn of national assets up for sale at Claridge's hotel to private equity bosses

4 comments: