EUROZONE-GREECE/AIRPORT PRIVATISATION Greece greenlights Germany's Fraport to run regional airports as part of bailout deal

Record ID: 143551

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/AIRPORT PRIVATISATION Greece greenlights Germany's Fraport to run regional airports as part of bailout deal
  • Date: 18th August 2015
  • Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (FILE - FEBRUARY 2013) (REUTERS) FRANKFURT AIRFIELD AND PLANE PREPARING TO LAND FLAG READING (English): "FRANKFURT AIRPORT" CONTROL TOWER PLANES ON TARMAC LUGGAGE TROLLEY DRIVING BY PLANES ON TARMAC FRANKFURT, GERMANY (FILE - 2014) (REUTERS) INTERIOR SHOT OF TERMINAL 1 AT FRANKFURT AIRPORT PASSENGERS AT COUNTER BOARDING CARD CONTROL
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA57MCJMY91LVCCE4DOLY6H5Y1R
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greece confirmed on Tuesday (August 18) that it will award concessions to run 14 regional airports to Germany's Fraport after a government official said the previously-frozen 1.2-billion-euro deal would be finalised in the coming weeks.
    A preliminary deal was struck in 2014 but was thrown into doubt after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's leftist government took power in January and said it would review the agreement.
    The Greek government official said the decision, published in the government gazette, confirmed its commitment to proceed with the deal on the previously-agreed terms, part of the latest bailout from Greece's lenders.
    Once ratified, the deal would be the first privatisation sale completed by Tsipras's government, which has long opposed the sale of strategic state assets but agreed to implement privatisations in exchange for bailout funds.
    An official speaking on condition of anonymity said the deal would pave the way for the final agreement in the coming weeks, adding that some legal and technical issues remained.
    A spokesman for Fraport said the government's decision was "the basis for further negotiations", but that no contracts had been signed.
    Fraport and Greek energy firm Copelouzos had agreed with the Greek privatisation agency in 2014 that it would run the 14 airports in tourist destinations including Kos and Corfu, striking one of Greece's biggest privatisation deals since the start of the debt crisis.
    Under the terms of the deal, the German-Greek group was expected to spend about 330 million euros in the first four years to upgrade the airports, which would be leased for 40 years.
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