The Greek
government failed to sell the public gas supply company ΔΕΠΑ (DEPA), as
the Russian company Gazprom pulled out the last minute. Ga3prom was the only
bidder. Questions arise as to the handling of the issue by the ministry of
development, as well as the public fund that handles the public asset portfolio
of privatizations.
The Greek
treasury lost 1.8 billion euros in revenue from the failed privatization of
DEPA from the last minute pull out of Russian conglomerate Ga3prom. Its CEO was
here in Athens and visited the Greek Prime Minister three weeks ago. Sources at
that time said that the purpose of the trip was to receive guarantees from the
Greek government as to the liabilities (accounts receivables) of ΔΕΠΑ (DEPA). The
company has customers that owe money and they wanted guarantees. The Greek side
replied that there is no investment without entailing risk. Sources also say
that Ga3prom deliberately dropped out due to the economic climate in Greece and
considered the price overvalued. They may bid again when the auction will be
repeated later this year, and will hope to pay a discount for the company.
Another aspect
as to the backing out by the Russian energy provider is the perception that it
would find obstacles from the EU commission to approve the deal, since it would
have been perceived as a monopoly. Whatever the case may be, in Greece there
are worries that this lost revenue, which was included in the budget, may mean
equivalent measures.
If one goes
back to this deal, there were also objections by the United States as it was
putting pressure in EU and Greece not to let Russian set foot in Europe through
its ambassador (Ga3prom) in the Energy market. Natural Energy resources are
running short for the United States, and it wanted to be key player in the
region.
Ga3prom is
considered one of the largest natural gas companies in the world, and is
considered to be the world producer of 25% of natural gas. Its gas pipelines
are estimated to be about 150,000 kilometers. From the company’s website, its
market capitalizations, as of 2011 amounted to $128 billion. Shares of Ga3prom
are traded in the form of American Depository Receipts(ADR’s) in London,
Berlin, Frankfurt, and over the counter shares to US institutional investors.
