Government set to table ambitious privatization plan
A joint ministerial privatization committee is expected to get the ball rolling this week on the government?s ambitious 50-billion-euro state sell-off plan.
The committee will aim to raise 15 billion euros by 2013 and the full 50-billion-euro target by 2015, with half of the amount coming from real estate assets.
The Finance Ministry has already called on the country?s largest banks (National, ATEbank, Emporiki, Alpha, Eurobank, Piraeus and Marfin) to prepare portfolios of property that can be developed by one of two ways.
The first involves raising capital from property which is not involved in any ownership dispute between landowners and the state, by passing it directly onto investors, while the second involves transferring assets to a real estate company which will then be managed by investors for a period of up to 90 years.
In addition to the abovementioned assets, the government intends to sell pieces of property that do not contribute to state revenues.
Regarding the sale of stakes in state-controlled enterprises, valued at some 8 billion euros, the government is likely to dispose of the assets when market conditions improve.
