CY expressions of interest to be revealed Friday

AN INTER-ministerial committee convenes on Friday to assess investors’ initial expressions of interest in the stock and/or assets of national carrier Cyprus Airways.

As reported by the Cyprus News Agency, the meeting will take place at the finance ministry, and will be attended by the finance minister, the communications minister, the accountant-general, the chairman of Cyprus Airways and KPMG, the airline’s consultants.

The deadline for submissions of non-binding expressions of interest expired on July 23. Some 20 companies expressed an interest, among them five involved in air transport.

The process is a preliminary step towards any eventual binding offer by any bidder. Remaining bidders must until the end of September file binding proposals. Interested parties will visit the airline’s offices here to acquire more corporate data.

Cyprus Airways is seeking a strategic investor to stay float.  The airline has struggled to survive against cheaper competitors and has been loss-making for years despite several attempts at a turnaround.

It is also under scrutiny by the European Commission over a €31.3m capital increase in early 2013 and a €73m rescue package by the Cypriot state in 2012, to establish whether it violated state aid rules.

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.