DEPA stake first on block
The expanded privatization package that the government has set up for the energy sector, after the inclusion of Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE), will open with the sale of a 55 percent stake in the Public Gas Corporation, known as DEPA (pictured), and of a 31 percent share in the Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA) in the year?s third quarter.
The first quarter of next year will see the sale of a 35 percent holding in ELPE, followed by a 17 percent stake in Public Power Corporation by the last quarter of 2012, although this may be replaced by the sale of some PPC plants; it is not clear which option the government will take.
The energy privatization timetable ends with the sale of 100 percent of the underwater reserve of natural gas off the coast of Kavala in northern Greece in the first quarter of 2013.
