Financial Times: Russians line up for Greek gas sale

Two Russian bidders have emerged as frontrunners in a flagship sell-off expected to raise more than €1.5bn for Athens, putting the Greek government in a dilemma as it seeks to meet privatisation targets set by international lenders.

The emergence of Gazprom and Sintez, a private natural gas company, as strongly placed to acquire Greece’s state-owned natural gas group has prompted warnings by the EU and US against opening the Greek market to Russian interests.

“It begs the question – what if the Russians make us an offer we can’t refuse?” a senior Greek official said. “We are under pressure from the troika [the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund] to raise as much money as we can from privatisation.”  MORE