Greece Accepts Snam-Led Consortium Bid for Stake in Gas Operator DESFA

By Nektaria Stamouli

ATHENS--A consortium led by Italian gas-infrastructure company Snam will acquire a majority stake in Greece's gas-grid operator DESFA, Greece's state-privatization fund said on Thursday.

The consortium comprising by Italy's Snam SpA (SRG.MI), Spain's Enagas Internacional and Fluxys Belgium SA (FLUX.BT) submitted an offer of EUR535 million ($662.1 million) for the acquisition of a 66% stake in Desfa, according to a statement by the country's sell-off fund.

The fund said it accepted the offer and named the consortium the "preferred investor."

"The completion of the transaction is conditional to the competent authorities' approvals," the state-privatization fund said.

Greece relaunched the tender for a 66% stake in DESFA last year after a 400 million-euro deal with Azerbaijan's SOCAR collapsed in 2016. The sale is part of the privatization program Greece agreed to under the terms of its third bailout.

Under the agreed timetable the sale should be completed by June, before Greece's third bailout program expires in August.

DESFA transports gas from the Greek-Bulgarian and Greek-Turkish borders via a 1,459-km pipeline.

Write to Nektaria Stamouli at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 19, 2018 11:53 ET (15:53 GMT)

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