Greece to start hiring privatisation advisors

Greece will tap advisors soon for its sale in state rail firm OSE and launch processes to award advisories for the rest of its three-billion-euros privatisation programme, a senior government source said on Thursday.

"For OSE, we are proceeding with hiring financial and legal advisors shortly," the source said. "In the next few days, we will start the restructuring and commercialisation of OSE." Greece wants to sell a 49 percent stake in fully state-owned railway OSE, which has losses of about 1 billion euros a year and estimated debts of about 10 billion euros.

"The procedures for hiring advisors for the rest of the privatisation programme are starting soon," said the source, adding that mandates will be awarded per individual sale.