Greece's national power utility PPC has selected three bidders to take part in a second round for the acquisition of a 24% stake in power grid operator ADMIE: RTE (France), Terna (Italy) and State Grid International Development of Hong Kong (part of the State Grid Corporation of China). ADMIE owns and operates 11,365 km of high-voltage transmission lines in Greece.
Under the terms of the bailout agreement approved in August 2015, PPC (51% state-owned) must either divest minority interest in ADMIE or fully privatise the transmission network by 2017. PPC also has to reduce its share on the retail market from the current 95% (96% in 2015 and around 92% in late March 2016) to 50% by 2020. In October 2015, Greece agreed to start the privatisation of 66% of ADMIE or to find alternative options to open up its electricity market and to divest a 17% stake in national power utility PPC (in 2016).