In early October, Greek Privatization Fund TAIPED annpunced that the binding bids deadlines for the privatizations of Greek Public Gas Corporation’s two new entities, DEPA Trade and DEPA Infrastructure, have once again been postponed.
The virtual data room (VDR) within the privatization process of DEPA Trade opened for prospective bidders, but, for now, the data is limited to non-financial details of the company. Financial data will be offered at the second stage, while the third and final stage will include in person presentation of DEPA Trade’s confidential information.
The new binding bids deadline for DEPA Trade has been extended to March 2021, replacing the planned December deadline. Reportedly, TAIPED intends to include improved DEPA Trade results anticipated in the third quarter of 2020 into the virtual data room, which will be on disposal to prospective bidders. Thus, TAIPED aims to achieve a higher selling price for DEPA Trade.
Other possible explanation for the delay is that the new deadline is linked to an uncertainty felt by investors over DEPA’s ongoing legal dispute with ELFE (Hellenic Fertilizers and Chemicals). Namely, DEPA’s appeal of a court verdict that disapproved the company’s pricing policy for ELFE is scheduled to take place in January, while a ruling will be delivered even later.
In June, Greek state privatization fund TAIPED announced a shortlist of the second round qualifiers in a tender for the sale of 65 % stake in DEPA Trade. A total of seven bidders have been invited to the second, binding round of the DEPA Trade privatization tender: C.G. Gas Limited of Greek Copelouzos group, consortium of Hellenic Petroleum and Italian Edison, GEK Terna, consortium of Motor Oil and Public Power Corporation (PPC), Mytilineos Group, MET Holding and Shell Gas.
