RZD to decide on bid for Greek rail freight co in a month - Dvorkovich
MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - OJSC Russian Railways (RZD) will decide on its participation in the privatization of a Greek rail freight carrier in the course of a month, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told journalists on Tuesday.
"Sob far we've submitted the paperwork for the first stage, to enable us to familiarize ourselves in more detail with the documentation, with all the figures, and after that we'll decided whether to bid at the tender itself. The [decision] will be in month or a month-and-a-half," Dvorkovich said.
He said it was a question of how much economic sense a bid would make. "RZD will take part only if it is commercially advantageous," he said.
In the middle of April, RZD told Interfax that it had applied to take part in the prequalification phase of the tender to acquire Greece's TrainOSE. In January, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) said that its board of directors had approved sale of 100% of TrainOSE in an international tender. In March, HRADF set new deadlines for binding proposals from bidders to purchase the passenger and freight rail operator, as well as rail equipment maintenance company ROSCO.
The date for submitted preliminary bids for TrainOSE was moved back to April 15 from March 21 and the deadline for binding proposals - to May 31 from April 26. In the ROSCO tender, the deadline for binding proposals was moved back to May 31 from March 28.
HRADF says it has received bids from three potential investors, but did not name them. The Greek newspaper Kathimerini, citing sources, has identified them as RZD, China's Cosco and Italy's Trenitalia. Concerning the ROSCO privatization, HRADF said it had received a request "from an interested investor" to extend the deadline for submitting binding offers, because, among other things, Greek parliament must approve documents concerning reforms in the tax area and in social insurance and pensions, which might affect the financial proposals.