Investors not warming to PPC lignite units sale, deadline near

Prospective buyers are maintaining an unfavorable outlook of the main power utility PPC’s bailout-required sale of lignite units with just over a week remaining before the latest deadline for binding bids expires.

PPC and the energy ministry will need to make further improvements to the disinvestment’s sale and purchase agreement (SPA) terms, sources stressed.

SPA revisions made in the lead-up to the sale’s deadline, now expiring on January 23, including a commitment for CAT remuneration of 40,000 euros per MW or up to 30 percent of the sale price, as well as a voluntary exit plan for workers at the loss-incurring Meliti and Megalopoli power stations included in the sale do not appear sufficient to generate genuine buyer interest.

Uncertainty continues to surround the outcome of state-controlled PPC’s voluntary exit plan as the date for binding bids draws nearer. Investors believe the workforce at the Meliti and Megalopoli power stations, currently totaling 1,248, needs to be cut down to 600. However, little time remains for an exodus of such magnitude.

Also, an existing agreement concerning lignite supply from the Ahlada mine to the Meliti facility has not been embraced by investors as its price and quantity terms appear vague.

In addition, a profit-and-loss sharing arrangement proposed by PPC for the units has not been been included in the SPA.