Cosco Pacific says bid only E500m for Piraeus

Cosco Pacific confirmed it had offered a bid of around €500m to the Piraeus Port Authority for a 35-year concession to operate two berths at Piraeus port. But according to the port authority Cosco Pacific submitted the highest bid of €4.93bn to beat off a challenge from a joint venture between Hutchison Port Holdings, Hutchison Ports Investments and Greek company Alapis Holding Industrial and Commercial and its subsidiary Lyd.

Xu Minjie, Cosco Pacific vice chairman and managing director, said: “No formal notification on the results of the bid has been received from the port authority” up to last Wednesday. The port authority said it hoped to award the concession by the end of this month.

Mr Xu added that if the bid is successful Cosco Pacific would finance the project using “a combination of shareholder’s equity and external financing amounting to €250m”.

The firm is the terminals division of China’s largest shipping company, Cosco Ocean Shipping Group.
Mr Xu added that the Piraeus project offered “an excellent opportunity to invest with a controlling stake in one of the largest ports in Europe”.

He said Cosco Pacific “is committed to further strengthening the company’s terminal portfolio in overseas and China ports”.

Mr Xu said the Piraeus project “aligns with the firm’s corporate strategy of becoming a leading global port operator”.

The firm operates or has stakes in 20 container terminals in China, Hong Kong and overseas which comprise investments in the Cosco-PSA Terminal in Singapore, Antwerp Gateway Terminal in Belgium and Suez Canal Container Terminal in Egypt.

Cosco Pacific saw a 21.5% rise in throughput at its 20 terminals to nearly 14.15m teu in the first four months of this year.