Russian energy company Sintez Group intends to bid for energy assets in Greece, which it hopes will develop into a transit hub for natural gas, the company's chief executive said Tuesday.
Sintez, controlled by tycoon Leonid Lebedev, will bid for Greece's state-owned gas company DEPA and gas-grid operator DESFA, which are being sold as part of Greece's privatization program. Non-binding bids are due by Nov. 6.
Fourteen companies--including Russia's Gazprom, Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (8031.TO) and Italy's Eni SpA--have been approved as bidders for the assets, which are valued by analysts between 1.5 billion euros and 2 billion euros ($1.94 billion-$2.58 billion).
Sintez sees Greece as a potential transit hub that could help Europe diversify its natural gas supplies by bringing gas from the Caspian area and increasing liquefied natural gas deliveries, the company's CEO Andrei Koroliov told a small group of reporters Tuesday. He said Sintez supported DEPA's plans to build pipelines connecting Greece with neighboring countries to integrate the southeast European energy markets.
Sintez already has power-generating assets in Russia and FYROM, as well as oil and gas fields in Russia.