China’s Cosco Pacific is understood to be the only bidder for the acquisition of the 51 percent stake of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP).

The Hong Kong-listed firm was the only company to submit a timely binding offer in a tender launched in 2014 by the state privatization fund (TAIPED) last week.

In a statement issued on Monday TAIPED said the details of the interested buyers will only be released upon the opening of the binding bids on January 12. The opening will take place along with the opening of the independent experts’ appraisals (Cantor and American Appraisal Hellas) that TAIPED has commissioned.

The privatization includes the acquisition of an additional 15 percent in the port to be conceded after five years under certain conditions, including the implementation of investments totaling €350 million.

In May this year we reported that three bidders were shortlisted for the Piraeus Port: APM Terminals B.V., COSCO (Hong Kong) Group Limited, and International Container Terminal Services, Inc, (ICTSI).

Piraeus Port is one of the busiest passenger ports in Europe, according to OLP data, and one of the top cargo ports in the Mediterranean. Cargo traffic rose 15% to 3.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2013. 

These privatization is part of the Greece's privatisation programme, which aims to raise around €6.4 billion (US$7.27 billion) by 2017.