* Nomura, Barclays, Deutsche, Citibank to bid for €1.4 bln plan *
Nomura, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Citibank are expected to submit offers to undertake the financial plan for the privatisation of Limassol port, part of a public selloff plan that should earn the state some 1.4 bln euros.
Cyprus Ports Authority Chairman Alecos Michaelides said that the four financial consultants will prepare the tender documents and seek investors after advisors KPMG conclude their inventory of the port’s assets and decide which services are most suited for full or part privatisation.
Michaelides said that the Authority decided to appoint two consulting firms on the privatisation of the Limassol port’s commercial activities, the first specialises on port operations and will ascertain which activities are to be privatised and the second, a financial firm will prepare the necessary documents and the terms of the tender.
“Along with KPMG there will be another firm with experience on ports privatisation and will discuss which parts of the Limassol port will be privatised,” he said.
The CPA has already begun assessing initial offers on the second financial consulting firm. “Soon we will proceed with the tender to select the firm in October,” Michaelides added.
He said that Nomura, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Citibank “are mostly financial consulting firms which will prepare the documents, the final terms of the tender, and assess the various options proposed by the first firm on what is to be privatised.”
Michaelides said the privatisation process is expected to be concluded by mid-2015, but the CPA will remain a public organisation for the supervision and regulation of the ports.
A privatisation plan approved by the Council of Ministers last year stipulates that commercial activities at Limassol port, loading and unloading containers, transit point will be privatised on the basis of a long-term license to a suitable port operator. The operator will be selected after an international tender by December 31, 2015.
The government approved the finalisation plan as part of a set of fiscal consolidation measures included in the terms of the EUR 10 bln bailout Cyprus agreed with its international lenders in March last year. The plan covers the privatisation of Cyprus Telecommunications Authority and the CPA by end 2015, and the Electricity Authority of Cyprus by September 2017. Cyprus needs to secure proceeds of 1 bln by 2016 and an additional 0.4 bln by 2018.
