Greece has given the only qualified bidder for its stake in OPAP until Thursday morning to increase its offer.
Greek privatisation agency HRADF announced yesterday that it had only unsealed one of the two binding offers it received for Greece’s 33% stake in the gaming monopoly, that submitted by the Emma Delta Consortium backed by Greek shipping magnate George Melisanidis and Czech businessman Jiri Smejc.
HRADF’s board had unanimously decided not to unseal the proposal from US investment fund Third Point, “as it was a conditional offer”. Third Point had reportedly insisted on the right to re-sell its shares within three years without HRADF receiving 50% of the capital gains.
As the only valid bidder, Emma Delta is however understood to have offered only €622m for the stake, according to Reuters, well below the current market value of around €740m. Greece is holding out for an offer above €650m, according to the news wire.
OPAP, the most profitable of the businesses being put up for sale by the Greek government, was seen as a key pillar of its €2.6bn privatisation drive aimed at securing the disbursement of further EU/IMF bailout funds to prop up the country’s ailing economy.
The sale however failed to generate the expected level of interest from established gaming companies and large investment houses, with just two of the seven shortlisted bidders eventually submitting binding offers. Consortia containing gaming giants Playtech, Intralot and Gauselmann all failed to table bids.
The uncertain investment climate in Greek is understood to have deterred bidders, as has a 30% tax on gross revenue and 10% on winnings on all its operations from 2013, introduced to head off possible EU State Aid action, projected to wipe up to €280m off annual profits, which amounted to €531m last year.
Greek plans to extend OPAP’s monopoly online, restricting private operators to non-RNG online games such as live casino and tournament poker until 2020, are now under scrutiny from EU regulators. The monopoly was ruled to be illegal as currently operated by Europe’s highest court, the CJEU in January, following cases brought by William Hill, Sportingbet and Stanleybet. A Greek court is due to deliver its verdict guided by the ECJ ruling later this year.
Article written by Stephen Carter
