Greece’s Aegean Airlines bids for ailing Olympic
International Herald Tribune
ATHENS, Greece: Greece’s Aegean Airlines on Wednesday offered €170 million ($214 million) to buy debt-ridden state carrier Olympic Airlines.
The offer came a month after the conservative government made a public appeal for investors to rescue Olympic, following a previous tender that failed to attract sufficiently high bids.
State television said U.S.-based Chrysler Aviation also submitted a €210 million offer for Olympic on Wednesday. Greece’s Marfin Investment Group, or MIG, and Swissport have already tabled separate bids.
Development Minister Costis Hadzidakis welcomed the new bids, which he said would be duly examined.
Aegean, which is Olympic’s main competitor in Greece’s domestic routes, said it was interested in buying the carrier’s flight operations, technical maintenance and a company set up by the government to succeed Olympic.
An Aegean statement said it was prepared to “concede part of its domestic operations, in order to further strengthen competition.”
Responding to the government’s appeal last month, MIG offered a total €62.4 million for Olympic’s flight operations and technical maintenance. Swissport has also submitted a binding €44.8 million bid for Olympic’s ground handling services.
The government wants to liquidate Olympic — which has accumulated losses of around €2.7 billion ($3.41 billion) — and transfer most of its 8,100 staff to other public sector jobs. The new company will keep the Olympic name and logo.
Last year, the European Union approved Greece’s plan to break up and fully privatize Olympic by the end of 2009.
For years, Greece subsidized the struggling national airline, which in 2001 had debts totaling some €120 million ($151.4 million). In 2003, the government incorporated the assets of debt-ridden Olympic Airways and two subsidiaries into the renamed Olympic Airlines.