Greece Says Fraport Deal To Be Completed In March

Greece may wrap up a deal with Fraport in March for an airports concession in one of the reforms required as part of its EUR€86 billion bailout, the Greek economy minister said.

The comments by George Stathakis came after Fraport said earlier this month it expected delays in the EUR€1.2 billion deal.

Greece has pledged to raise EUR€1.4 billion from asset sales this year, a goal that is now in doubt following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's resignation.

Greece named Fraport and its Greek partner, energy firm Copelouzos, as the preferred bidder to operate 14 airports in tourist destinations, including Corfu and Santorini. The agreement was thrown into doubt after the new government took power in January.

Greece had confirmed it would award the concession to the bidders and the deal would be completed in the coming weeks. However, Fraport said last week it didn't expect talks with the Greek government over the concession would lead to its taking over the airport operations before the end of the year.

Stathakis called Fraport's announcement ambiguous and hinted that the Frankfurt-based company might have an issue with finding financing for the deal. "If Fraport wants to lower its price, this will raise an issue of a wider renegotiation that we would have to address," he said.

Under the deal, the German-Greek group was expected to pay a EUR€23 million fee annually and to spend EUR€330 million in the first four years to upgrade the airports, which it will operate for 40 years.