China Cosco bids 5 billion yuan for Greek port of Piraeus

Almaty. January 15. Silkroadnews - China's largest shipper, China Cosco Holdings Co., made a binding offer on Tuesday for amajority stake of Greece’s main port of Piraeus, People's Daily Online informs.
“Move that is expected to earn cash-hungry Athens hundreds of millions of euros and turn the Mediterranean port into alogistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe”, - publication says on Friday.
China Cosco is the only bidder for the majority stake of the port. Its bid for a 67 percentstake was some 5 billion yuan or 700 million euros, including around 350 million euros ininfrastructure investments over five years.
The political situation in Greece has delayed the privatization process for its largest port,Piraeus. But now the deal is nearly closed.
The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, which handles state asset sales of Greece,didn’t disclose the value of the bid, but gave China Cosco a week to submit an improvedoffer for control of the nation’s largest port.
China Cosco wants to develop the Piraeus port into a logistics center that will transportgoods, mostly via rail, to Eastern Europe, said the company's executives and other Chineseofficials.
“It’s good news because it strengthens the investment climate in Greece at a difficult timeand could generate more investments in rail infrastructure and other ports,” said GeorgeXiradakis, an Athens-based marine business consultant and adviser of China DevelopmentBank, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Two other shortlisted investors APM Terminals, owned by Danish shipping conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, and Philippines based port operator International ContainerTerminal Services Inc. didn’t make binding bids.