After raising its offer, a Greek-French consortium has emerged as the preferred bidder for Greece's biggest infrastructure privatization that covers nearly 900

kilometers of existing highways, including the major Egnatia Odos route.

The consortium of GEK TERNA S.A. with Egis Projects S.A., will pay nearly $1.8 billion upfront for the 35-year contract covering the 658 Egnatia highway plus 225 km on three associated routes. And the team will invest another $494 million  on the highways in the next five years.

After launching the privatization in 2017, HRADF last month opened binding offers from two final bidders.  A day later, it called for increased offers, with undisclosed results. The runner-up was a team led by Vinci Group with the local contractors Mytilineos S.A. and Avax S.A.

Completed by a state company in 2009, the Egnatia motorway runs for 658 km across the country