ATHENS (Sputnik) – Only one binding bid to buy the Greek TrainOSE railway company was made, by the Italian state-owned company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A., Greece’s Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) said on Wednesday.
The first stage of tender took place on April 15 with Russian Railways, the Greek company GEK Terna and the Italian Trenitalia railway corporation having submitted bids, HRADF told RIA Novosti.
The next stage was originally scheduled for May 31 but was postponed several times.
The HRADF also informed participants in the tender process about the downgrading its terms with more than $150 million of TrainOSE’s debt no longer being canceled, as had previously been promised.
Russian Railways decided not to participate in the second stage of the tender after the conditions were changed.
Last summer’s multibillion-dollar bailout deal to revive the ailing Greek economy requires a number of Greece's public assets to be privatized, including its rail infrastructure, among other austerity measures. The new wave of privatization caused mass protests across the country.
