ATHENS, June 1 (Reuters) – Athens International Airport shareholders have given the go ahead for the sale of a 30% stake in the country’s biggest airport by privatisation agency HRADF, a senior official from the agency said on Thursday.
State-owned HRADF, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, has hired Bank of America (BAC.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) to act as advisers on the sale of its stake.
The other shareholders are Germany-based manager AviAlliance, which currently holds 40%, Greece’s sovereign wealth fund HCAP with a 25% stake and Copelouzos group, which owns 5%.
The shareholders have signed a memorandum of understanding, opening the way for AviAlliance to acquire a further 10% stake, with HRADF’s remaining 20% to be sold through an initial public offering (IPO) for listing on the Athens Stock Exchange, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The full 30% stake could be valued at between 800 million and 1 billion euros ($880.6 million-$1.1 billion).
Greece’s privatisation agency had originally aimed for the sale to take place in the first half of the year, but the official said the new target was for it to conclude by the end of the year, subject to market conditions.
Tourism is a key driver of growth for Greece, accounting for at least a fifth of its gross domestic product.
With COVID restrictions fully lifted this year, passenger traffic at Athens airport rose by an annual 47.5% in the January-to-April period to 6.6 million, data published on the airport’s website showed.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
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