Improved offers for DESFA tabled

State sell-off fund TAIPED, in cooperation with Hellenic Petroleum, is expected on Friday to open the new and improved binding offers for a 66 percent stake in gas grid operator DESFA.

The two investment consortiums submitted their increased bids on Wednesday and TAIPED sources unofficially confirmed information that the price of the privatization project will exceed the 400 million euros agreed in the previous process, involving Azeri state company Socar.

Unless a serious problem emerges, joint sellers TAIPED and Hellenic Petroleum may ask the preferred bidder for a further increase in their offer as part of efforts to maximize revenues, sources close to the process tell Kathimerini.

The original binding bids by the consortium of Italy's Snam with Belgium's Fluxys and Spain's Enagas Internacional, and by the consortium of Spain's Reganosa with Romania's Transgaz...