Snam-led consortium wins DESFA tender

State sell-off fund TAIPED on Thursday opened the way for the consortium of Italy's Snam, Spain's Enagas and Belgium's Fluxys to acquire 66 percent of Greece's gas grid operator DESFA, thereby strengthening the southern Europe energy axis built around the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

TAIPED on Thursday accepted the consortium's offer of 535 million euros. The bid was also accepted by the governing board of DESFA's other stakeholder, Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE), which is conceding a 35 percent stake in the company alongside the state's 31 percent.

The ELPE board decided to call a general shareholders meeting for May 14 to approve the stake's concession to the consortium, which, as TAIPED noted in its statement yesterday, is subject to approval by the competent regulating authorities.

It should be noted that the consortium of the three European companies has not...