Investors immigrating to Greece have learned that the Greek Court of Audit has approved the sale of a 67% stake in the Piraeus Port Authority to China COSCO Shipping Group, advancing the privatization of the country's largest port, Piraeus Port. After receiving approval from the Court of Audit, the transaction will also need to be submitted to the Hellenic Competition Commission for approval. Subsequently, both parties will sign a contract and submit it to the Hellenic Parliament for approval. The entire process is expected to be completed in 5 months.
According to reports, Piraeus Port is the largest port in Greece and along the Mediterranean coast. COSCO Group won the bid for the privatization of the Piraeus container terminal in June 2008, obtaining a 35-year concession to operate terminals 2 and 3 for a total cost of approximately 4 billion euros, while terminal 1 continues to be operated by the state-owned port authority.
Given the significant disparity in operational efficiency between the two, the previous Greek government included the management rights of terminal 1 in its privatization plan, further aiming to privatize the majority stake (67%) in Piraeus Port, with five bidders, including COSCO, becoming potential buyers.
Under the push of the then Prime Minister Samaras's government, the majority stake sale process for Piraeus Port was initiated, attempting to sell a 67% stake, with COSCO being a significant potential buyer. However, the radical left coalition led by Tsipras halted the privatization plan for Piraeus Port on the day they took office, January 27 last year.
The Hellenic Privatization Fund, responsible for advancing the privatization of Greek state assets, announced on February 17 this year that China COSCO Shipping Group has officially become the "preferred investor" for the Piraeus privatization project. The Hellenic Privatization Fund stated in a press release that COSCO Group has obtained a 67% stake in the Piraeus Port Authority through the bidding process. Previously, the privatization fund announced acceptance of COSCO Group's offer to purchase the majority stake in the Piraeus Port Authority for 368.5 million euros.
According to the concession agreement, the COSCO subsidiary officially took over terminals 2 and 3 of Piraeus Port in 2010. Since taking over the terminals, its throughput has increased from 685,000 TEUs in 2010 to 3.03 million TEUs in 2015, with major companies such as ZTE, Huawei, and HP making the port their logistics center.
After completing the handover of the Piraeus Port Authority, COSCO plans to gradually invest 135 million euros in infrastructure to stimulate the Greek market potential, striving to include Piraeus in the route planning of all major international cruise lines, aiming to make Piraeus one of the largest cruise ports in the world.