SEVEN parties have qualified for the binding bid phase of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund’s (HRADF) stake sale in DEPA Commercial, including Coupelouzos Group which has close links to China Energy.

The board of directors of HRADF recently announced that the interested parties have met the criteria to participate in Phase B (binding offers phase) of the tender process for the acquisition of 65% of the share capital of DEPA Commercial SA, with an option of acquiring the total of its issued share capital by virtue of a memorandum of understanding between DEPA SA shareholders, HRADF and shareholder Hellenic Petroleum.

State controlled gas utility DEPA has both wholesale and retail businesses, and the wholesale businesses are being put into DEPA Commercial under a restructuring. The Greek government is selling a 65% stake in DEPA Commercial as part of the terms of the country’s final European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout.

DEPA is Greece’s main importer of pipeline and liquefied natural gas via long-term supply contracts. Hellenic Petroleum, Greece’s biggest oil refiner, holds the remaining 35% stake.

The prequalified interested parties are: CG Gas Limited; Consortium Hellenic Petroleum & Edison International Holding; Consortium Motor Oil Hellas Corinth Refineries SA & PPC SA; Gek Terner group; MET Holding; Mytilinaios; and Shell Gas.

CG Gas Limited, headquartered in Cyprus and active in the energy sector, is a company belonging to the Copelouzos Group.

Copelouzos Group is an infrastructure investor and a fully integrated business development company involved in the implementation of large-scale, industrial, technological and other infrastructure projects. The group’s core business areas include power plants, energy projects, natural gas, renewable energy sources, and airports management.

In 2018 a strategic alliance agreement was announced between Copelouzos Group and China Energy Investment Corporation, which is the largest energy producer of the world, not only from conventional sources such as oil and coal, but also from renewables. In Greece the two are cooperating on a pipeline of wind farms constructed by Copelouzos, with ambitions to expand beyond Greece into the Balkans.