Greece’s privatisation agency confirmed today that it has accepted an improved offer of €652m for its 33% stake in the OPAP betting and monopoly, from final bidder Emma Delta.
The EU Member State will make a grand total of €712m from the sale, as it is also due to receive the 2012 dividend of €60m from its OPAP stake.
The offer from the consortium backed by Greek shipping magnate George Melisanidis and Czech businessman Jiri Smejc is €30m higher than Emma Delta originally offered, but well below the €745m market value of the 33% stake on 22 April when the consortium submitted its binding offer.
Greece only received just one binding proposal from seven shortlisted bidders for OPAP, the first of the major privatisations under its IMF/EU bailout.
Five interested parties decided not to table offers and HRADF decided not to unseal Third Point’s binding proposal due to the US investment fund insisting on the right to re-sell within three years without HRADF receiving 50% of the capital gains.
Gaming companies Playtech, Intralot and Gauselmann were among those that decided against tabling concrete offers.
The volatile investment climate in Greek is understood to have deterred bidders, as well as a 30% tax on gross revenue and 10% on winnings on all its operations from 2013 introduced by Greece last year to head off possible EU State Aid action. This is projected to wipe up to €280m off annual profits, which amounted to €531m last year.
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 also 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 joined 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 Katy Stirland
