Greece Prepares to Sell Assets First to Go Horse Betting License

Greece’s privatization agency (HRADF) has invited OPAP (OPAr.AT) to sign a deal next week to acquire the country’s sole license for horse racing betting, the first state asset sale to be completed by the new leftist-led coalition government.

The agency announced in March it would proceed with the sale of the exclusive betting rights to OPAP, the country’s dominant gambling firm, which won the license last year after offering 40 million euros ($43.26 million).

“HRADF…invited the successful bidder, OPAP Ιnvestments Ltd, to sign the concession contract on April 24,” the agency said in a statement on Friday.

 
Betting on horse racing in Greece had been run by a state-owned group.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told Reuters on Thursday that state assets were one of the thorny issues in talks with the EU/IMF creditors assessing whether the cash-strapped country can get further bailout aid.

Privatizations have been a key demand of the country’s international lenders. The election of Tsipras’ government in January on promises to end austerity and block “fire-sales” cast doubt on the future of Greece’s privatizations plan.

Greece has a series of ongoing tenders for the divestment of state assets, including the sale of a 67 percent stake in its biggest port Piraeus and the lease of a bundle of 14 regional airports to a joint venture led by German airport operator Fraport (FRAG.DE).

In a reform list sent to the creditors last month, Athens estimated privatization revenues of 1.5 billion euros this year.

via Reuters

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.