Lamda

The Athens Stock Exchange closed with mild gains of 0.9% on Wednesday, ending a run of three negative sessions.

The general index closed at 1,279.92 on turnover of €77.3 million. Blue chips gained 0.24%, mid-caps 0.36% and banks 0.02%.

The Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC), the body responsible for granting new casino operating licenses, announced on Thursday that it is starting consultations for the approval of a casino permit at Elliniko - Attica's biggest development project - opening the way for the tender to find an investor for the project.

Greece has given its gaming committee the green light to launch a tender for a new casino license, removing another obstacle for a major tourism project in Athens, which is a key conditionality of the country's international bailout.

The decision was published in Thursday's Government Gazette, the same day as Greece's top administrative court approved the project's development plan.

Greece's top administrative court will consider on January 29 whether to give the go-ahead for a luxury resort project on the plot of a disused Athens airport, which is a key part of the government's privatization program.

Greek property developer Lamda says it is ready to get on with plans to develop the disused Elliniko airport site, south of Athens, provided that the country's left-led government shows the necessary political will to see the project through.

Greece has won an appeal over objections from forestry officials to a major tourism project in Athens that forms part of its third international bailout, overcoming one of the obstacles to turning the site into one of Europe's biggest coastal resorts.

Greece's top advisory body on the protection of antiquities, the Central Archaeological Council (KAS), has ruled that more than 30 hectares of Elliniko, the site of a planned real estate investment in southern Athens, is of archaeological interest.

Greece will soon define the boundaries of a site where investors plan to spend 7.9 billion euros to build one of Europe's biggest coastal resorts, the Culture Ministry said, in a sign the delayed project may eventually go ahead.

Private equity group Blackstone acquired a 10 percent stake in Greek real estate developer Lamda for 20.2 million euros ($28 million), the latest move by foreign funds warming to Greece's recovery prospects, Lamda said on Wednesday.