Another milestone reached towards finally commencing Helleniko privatization

The contract transferring land rights at the metropolitan site of Helleniko, in coastal southeast Athens, from Greece’s privatization agency (HRADF) to a state-affiliated special purpose vehicle, was passed by a wide majority on Wednesday in Parliament. The ratification marks another milestone towards commencing the biggest real estate project in the east Mediterranean country in recent memory.

The Helleniko project is an iconic privatization in the country, listed in successive bailout agreements with institutional creditors and seen as a “litmus test” by international investors interested in major “green field” or “brown field” investments in Greece – and coming six years after the country’s flirted with a messy “Grexit”.

Speaking in Parliament, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras referred to development of immense significance for the country.

According to sources from ATHEX-listed Lamda Development, the ratification marks another step towards transferring the shares of the site.
Analysts pointed to a “matter of weeks” before Lamda pays a first installment to the Greek state to acquire the shares from the special vehicle entity, Hellenikon S.A.
Helleniko once hosted Athens’ international airport and assorted other state facilities linked with aviation.

Efforts to develop the site by private investors has been met with two decades of bureaucratic foot-dragging, scores of legal challenges, political opposition by the far left at all levels of government, “red-tape”, and, nearly a decade of a punishing economic crisis in the country.