ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s sell-off agency has canceled a tender to select an adviser for the privatization of a group of power stations belonging to the Electricity Production Corporation, also known as EUAS, banking sources said yesterday. The tender has been canceled as a result of the lack of a satisfactory number of bids. The Privatization Administration, or OIB, had set a May 26 deadline for the submission of bids to help the government devise a strategy for the power stations belonging to the Electricity Production Corporation. Banking sources told Reuters that they expected the OIB to invite a new tender to find an adviser. EUAS operates a total of 103 hydropower stations and 19 thermal power plants.

Pasal Development SA, a Greek real estate development company, purchased a 37.1 percent stake in Piraeus Real Estate Investment Property SA for 42.3 million euros ($65.6 million) from Sciens International Investments & Holdings SA. Pasal bought 20.4 million shares for 2.08 euros a share, according to an Athens Exchange filing yesterday. The acquisition is being financed by “long-term debt and cash reserves in a 70/30 proportion,” the company said in the filing. (Bloomberg)

Giorgos Provopoulos will be Greece’s new central bank governor, succeeding Nicholas Garganas, who is stepping down next week, the country’s finance minister said yesterday. “From next week Giorgos Provopoulos will take over as governor at the Bank of Greece, continuing the successful work of Nicholas Garganas,” Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis told reporters. (Reuters)

Romania’s annual inflation edged down to 8.5 percent in May from April’s 8.6 percent marginally exceeding analysts’ expectations, the National Statistics Board said yesterday. Analysts polled by Reuters had produced a mid-range headline inflation forecast of 8.4 percent. Prices rose 0.5 percent on the month in April, with food price growth slowing down to 0.5 percent from over 1 percent recorded in April. Non-food items and services both rose by 0.5 percent. Officials forecast inflation at around 6 percent in December, well above this year’s 2.8-4.8 percent target range. (Reuters)

Romania’s unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent in May, from 3.9 percent the month before and compared with 4.1 percent in the same month of last year, the employment agency said yesterday. The new European Union member is struggling with a growing shortage of workers, mainly in construction and manufacturing, as more than one in 10 Romanians have left the country since the fall of communism in 1989, seeking higher wages abroad. Low unemployment and a race to catch up with Western living standards have put pressure on Romania’s labor market, forcing employers into double-digit wage hikes in recent years, a stance that fuels inflationary pressures in the emerging economy. (Reuters)