The main power utility PPC has just announced an international tender offering a bailout-required sale package of lignite units one day ahead of tomorrow’s scheduled date.

Prospective investors will have until June 21 to submit official expressions of interest and June 11 to forward any queries concerning the overall sale procedure.

Power stations and mines representing 40 percent of PPC’s overall lignite capacity have been included in the sale package.

The preferred bidder is scheduled to be officially announced on October 17. Binding offers will need to be submitted by September 1. Then, PPC’s board is scheduled to meet on September 20 to endorse the sale and purchase agreement as well as a financial appraisal procedure.

On July 3, the PPC board plans to endorse prospective investors who express interest as well as the procedure leading to the submission of binding offers.

It remains to be seen who the participants will be and how much they will be willing to offer for PPC’s lignite units.

At present, three investment teams are expected to submit official expressions of interest. The Copelouzos group, joined by Chinese energy company Shenhua, is one of the three, Terna Energy is another, while the metals industry Viohalco, one of the country’s biggest energy consumers, is the other player seen as a certainty.

The aforementioned players could also establish partnerships between them of with other investors still out of the picture.

Whether these prospective investors will progress beyond the preliminary stage to submit binding bids is another story. This will largely depend on the variable costs of units, currently not known; lignite’s level of participation in the country’s energy mix; as well as other still-unspecified matters, such as the CAT eligibility of lignite units.