Salonica casino wins Mont Parnes auction
Thessaloniki casino operator Hyatt Regency won a 49-percent stake in Athens’s sole casino, the state-owned Mont Parnes, late on Friday night with an offer of 92.1 million euros, beating out a bid by Club Hotel Casino Loutraki and Piraeus Bank, which said they would seek legal recourse. With a starting price of 80 million euros, the Loutraki-Piraeus consortium offered 91 million, while Hyatt, in a consortium with construction firm Hellenic Technodomiki, offered 80.1 million. But Hyatt also filed an objection questioning the other consortium’s participation. The Loutraki casino group then filed an objection claiming that the Hyatt bid had been accompanied by a declaration of reservations. The bid committee rejected Loutraki’s objection and the Hyatt consortium presented its counter-bid of 92.1 million, while Loutraki’s counter-bid was judged to be too late. Turkey’s claim to have European orientation provides no guarantees for Greece since the fact that both states were NATO members did not prevent Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the continued occupation of the northern part of the island, nor Turkish expression of claims on the Aegean Sea, even though it has undoubtedly headed off an all-out war between Athens and Ankara.
