Power utility PPC’s administration and the energy ministry are having second thoughts as to whether the sale of a majority stake is necessary for electricity distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, a subsidiary of PPC, given the improved results expected at the power utility over the next few years.

Government officials have been contemplating offering a majority stake, including managerial rights, in DEDDIE/HEDNO, but the privatization could end up offering investors a minority stake.

PPC’s EBITDA is expected to reach between 650 and 700 million euros in 2020 before rising to one billion euros by 2024.

This upward trajectory has prompted energy minister Costis Hatzidakis and PPC chief executive to reconsider the extent of the DEDDIE/HEDNO sale.

PPC’s plan for a gradual withdrawal of all its existing lignite-fired power stations by 2023, currently prompting damages estimated at between 200 and 300 million euros a year, as well as the utility’s planned bond issue, are two additional factors contributing to the reassessment of the DEDDIE/HEDNO sale.

The government and PPC want a partner for DEDDIE/HEDNO to help develop a costly modernization plan entailing the digitization of electricity networks.