Court ruling paves way for liquidation of Skaramangas shipyards
An Athens court has approved an appeal by the Greek state and Piraeus Bank to prepare the Skaramangas shipyards for liquidation.
As long as there are no objections from the key shareholder Privinvest, which is far from certain, the government will be able to start auctioning the shipyard's assets via an international tender.
If such a competition should proceed, Chinese shipping and logistics giant Cosco is expected to join the bidding.
The state and Piraeus Bank had appealed for Skaramangas to be prepared for liquidation in 2014, aiming to free the shipyards from operational problems caused by problems with shareholders and from a European Commission demand for Greece to return shipyard subsidies to state coffers.
It appears that Greek authorities aim to break the company into two units, one commercial and the other for military shipbuilding.
