ATHENS - The Greek ministers of finance and transport said Thursday that five companies had made bids for Olympic Airlines (OA), the successor of long-troubled Olympic Airways, which is being privatised.
One bidder is the private Greek operator Aegean Airlines, OA's chief competitor on domestic routes, which unveiled its candidacy on Wednesday.
But Aegean immediately noted that OA's privatisation entailed "serious judicial and operational problems," adding that it would only pursue a takeover if it could ensure competitive prices and high-quality service.
German low-cost operator Deutsche British Airways (DBA) also confirmed Thursday it was teaming up with an unnamed partner in a bid for the loss-making Greek carrier.
Of the remaining three foreign groups, the names featuring most prominently in Greek press reports were those of British operators Klesch, a Greek-American consortium titled Olympic Investors, and the Dutch investment fund Sure Estates.
Asked how long the takeover evaluation process was expected to last, Transport Minister Michalis Liapis said "the next two months will be crucial".
He said: "We have entered the final and difficult phase.
"We will now evaluate the proposals and begin negotiations to determine the best offer.
"We hope to reach a deal to save Olympic, as time is pressing, and so is the European Union," the minister said.
Although Liapis and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said a full list of candidates would be released on Thursday, a ministry source later told AFP the government would make the announcement next week, following consultation with Lazard, the global financial advisors overseeing OA's privatisation.
The privatisation process was revived in December 2004 following the failure of successive attempts by the previous socialist administration in 2000-2004.
The socialists ultimately decided to split the company in two in December 2003.
Olympic Airlines, which inherited the group's flight operations - including the Macedonian Airlines subsidiary that handles traffic to northern Greece - posted a loss of 23 million euros (30 million dollars) that year. No figures were available for 2004, but Greek press reports place last year's losses at 100 million euros.
The second company, Olympic Airways Services, grouped various services under its wing, including aircraft maintenance, baggage handling, cargo and training.
On Wednesday, the association of OA employees (OSPA) declared its opposition to a takeover by Aegean, warning that this would lead to a domestic route monopoly. OSPA also faulted the private carrier for prompting a European Commission probe into OA's state funding in 2002.
The European Commission has taken Greece to court over its failure to recover by February 2003 some 41 million euros in restructuring aid funnelled to Olympic, and over 100 million euros in other forms of aid.
The present administration has signaled that this latest attempt at privatisation will be the last. In case of failure, the conservatives have said that OA will be broken up, and the company's various components will be sold to the highest bidder.
04/14/2005 16:07 GMT