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-km Egnatia highway plus 225 km of three associated routes. The team will invest another $494 million  on the highways in the next five years.

The state's privatization agency, Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund will also receive more than $1 billion from its 7.5% share of the highways' projected toll revenues.

After launching the privatization in 2017, the fund 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 northern Greece between Igoumenitsa, on the Ionian Sea in the west, and the Turkish border at Kipi. The contract's three associated highways run north for the Egnatia route to Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.