Greece Fights Debt with $71 Billion Yard Sale

A wooden sculpture of a man’s head locked in a vise sits on a cabinet behind Aristotelis Karytinos, general manager of real estate at the National Bank of Greece and a government adviser on the sale of state assets. “That’s how we’re all feeling lately,” says Karytinos. Greece has committed to raising an unprecedented €50 billion ($71 billion) from state assets by 2015 as part of plans to win more international aid and avoid defaulting on its €330 billion in debt. Among the items designated for sale or lease are a casino in Athens, a golf course on the island of Rhodes, toll roads, and a stake in gas supplier Public Gas Supply Corp. of Greece, known as Depa.

Potential buyers include sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms, along with institutional and individual investors who may buy stock in initial public offerings. All will be shopping for bargains, bankers say, and the fact that many assets will come to market at the same time may depress prices. “The governments will get fair value,” says David Sola, a managing director at investment bank Houlihan Lokey in London. “But perhaps not maximum value they could get if they prepare the assets over a longer time for sale.”