Elefsis Shipyards

ΟΝΕΧ will distribute 1.8 million euros as financial support to workers at Elefsis Shipyards ahead of the Easter holidays, covering 30% of the previous ownership's debt to workers, Chairman and CEO Panos Xenocostas said in a letter.

The payment will be made on Friday and will vary from €600 to €7,000, depending on the previous debt.

The ONEX Shipyards & Technologies group has announced that the full lifting of dry dock No 1 at Elefsis Shipyards has been successfully completed.

The lifting operation was an extremely complex undertaking due to the poor condition the dry dock was in after decades of abandonment, combined with its many years at the bottom of the Elefsis Shipyards facilities (since 2018).

The sale process for Elefsis Shipyards is getting more complicated and is set to last a few more months, until the application for the ratification of the streamlining agreement with ONEX, the strategic investor.

The funding to come from US state investment bank DFC may have been approved by the US Congress just a few weeks ago, in end-2019, but Greece has already come onto the investment radar of the American giant, which commands funds of $60 billion.

The government is trying hard to revive two companies which are important for the local economy and the country's armed forces, Hellenic Vehicle Industry and Elefsis Shipyards.

US investment firm Chatsworth Securities LLC has agreed with Onex Elefsis Shipyards LLC to participate in an investment of up to $400 million euros over the course of 15 years in the shipyards of Elefsina, western Attica, as part of efforts to save the complex from bankruptcy.

The Tavoularis Group, which controls Neorion SA, has started exclusive negotiations with Panos Xenokostas' Onex Group over the sale of Elefsis Shipyards, which Neorion owns.

Only one offer, from Cypriot company Inter-M Traders, was said to have reached KPMG, which is conducting the tender for an investor in Elefsis Shipyards on behalf of the overindebted shipbuilding group and creditor bank Alpha, in cooperation with the Economy Ministry.