Greece’s government, seeking investors to offset a crushing economic crisis, got a boost with the news that German company Hochtief had sold its 26.7 percent stake in the management of Athens International Airport to a Canadian pension fund PSP Investments for 1.1 billion euros ($1.44 billion).
The price was less than the 1.5 billion euros ($1.97 billion) it had hoped to get when it earlier was looking for a bidder.
Hochtief has a stake of just over 40% in the airport, with five percent being held by a private investor and 55% by the Greek state. Chinese investors had recently expressed strong interest in the upcoming privatisation of the airport, including Hochtief’s stake.
Hochtief, which is controlled by Spain’s ACS, halted the sale early last year when it couldn’t get a higher bid but came back looking for offers to sell off its stake. Hochtief AirPort has holdings in the airports of Athens, Budapest, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Sydney and Tirana, handling approximately 95 million passengers annually.
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