CYPRUS Airways (CY) will submit a revised proposal to buy Olympic Airways tomorrow, in the next stage of its bid to buy 51 per cent of the flagging Greek carrier.
Olympic delayed making a final choice over a buyer in May, when three bids were deemed unsatisfactory.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that CY failed to pay the £1.8 million deposit to secure its bid. In addition, CY only offered to buy 51 per cent of Olympic, whereas the Greek government is eager to sell a majority shareholding of at least 60 per cent.
But still considered a frontrunner in the race to secure the Olympic deal, CY will submit its revised plans to the Greek carrier tomorrow.
On Friday, the CY consortium will present its plan to Credit Suisse First Boston, the investment bank handling the deal in London.
The airline’s spokesman Tassos Angelis yesterday told the Sunday Mail that Olympic would then be faced with making a final decision about its future.
He said he had no idea when they would make the final announcement.
Dogged by labour disputes, industrial action and mismanagement, Olympic Airways has reported profits only once in the past 20 years.
The fleet is about to be scaled down by a third, after British Airways pulled the plug on initial plans to buy a 20 per cent stake last year.
The company has debts exceeding £100 million, and EU regulations forbid Athens from bailing it out any more.
CY chairman Haris Loizides wants 30 per cent of Olympic directly controlled by CY and its unidentified consortium partners.
Flight routes would be redefined and overseas offices merged. Loizides hopes a larger group would be able to negotiate better fuel prices.
CY is only interested in Olympic’s airline division, not its catering and heavy maintenance sectors.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
