Greece launches tender to sell 65 pct of DEPA Commercial SA

DEPA SA (Public Gas Corporation) will proceed to a partial demerger of its distribution business, as well as a spin-off of its international projects segment Currently, HRADF holds a 65 pct equity stake in DEPA’s share capital and Hellenic Petroleum SA the remaining 35 pct. Following DEPA’s partial demerger, DEPA will retain all wholesale and retail gas activities (including its shareholding in Attiki Gas Supply Company SA) and will be renamed to DEPA Commercial SA, the shares of which will be owned by the Fund (65 pct) and Hellenic Petroleum (35 pct). The Fund and Hellenic Petroleum have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) allowing for the preferred investor to have the option to acquire the remaining 35 pct of shares in DEPA Commercial SA owned by Hellenic Petroleum, leading to an acquisition of 100 pct of its share capital.

The tender process for the acquisition will take place in two phases: the pre-qualification phase (Phase A) and the binding offers phase (Phase B). The interested parties are invited to submit their expression of interest by March 6, 2020. UBS and Bank of Piraeus are acting jointly as Financial Advisors and the Law Firm Potamitis Vekris as the Legal Advisor to the Fund.

Meanwhile, the Board of Directors of HRADF during its meeting today also declared the tender for the property "Korizi & Thrakis" in Tavros incomplete, due to non-submission of binding bids.