Montenegro has given Greece’s Public Power Corporation (PPC) a July 29 deadline to drop all the conditions attached to its 127-million-euro bid for the power monopoly Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG), or lose the tender despite making the most attractive bid, a senior source said yesterday.
With a bid of 11.10 euros per share for an 18.3 percent stake in EPCG, Greece’s PPC has surpassed the offer by Italian rival A2A of 8.40 euros per share. The government controls 70 percent of EPCG. The price and a pledge to invest 5 billion euros would not mean an easy win for PPC, which has bid along with GoldenEnergy One Holdings, a unit of the Greek shipping group Restis.
Montenegrin government officials have been looking for flaws in the Greek offer, which has spoiled what local media called a “done deal” with A2A. “Wednesday, July 29, 5 p.m. [6 p.m. Greek time] is the deadline,” a senior source involved in the process, told Reuters. “They must give up all their conditions and then they will be able to close the transaction on September 30.”
(KATHIMERINI, 29/07/2009)