Greece has agreed to sell rights to operate 14 regional airports to Germany's Fraport. The deal is the first in a wave of privatizations the Syriza government of Alexis Tsipras had until recently opposed.

With an offer consisting of an upfront payment of €1.234 billion (US$1.54 billion) and an annual payment of €22.9 million for the life of the concession the Fraport AG - Slentel Ltd consortium beat out competition from two other consortia.

The deal is the first privatization decision taken by the Greek government, which was elected in January on promises to block privatizations.

However Tsipras has been forced to renege on his pre-election promises in order to win a deal on the third bailout for Greece, worth €86 billion.

In November 2014, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) had selected the Fraport AG - Slentel Ltd consortium as the preferred bidder for the concession. The Government has now confirmed the agreement.

The contract period will be 40 years. The concession is divided into two clusters:

• Cluster A includes the airports of Thessaloniki, Corfu, Chania, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Aktion, Kavala and
• Cluster B includes the airports of Rhodes, Kos, Samos, Mitilini, Mykonos, Santorini,Skiathos.

The preferred bidder offered for Cluster A an upfront payment of €609 million (U$760 million) and an annual payment for the life of the concession of €11.3 million annually adjusted according to CPI and €625 million (US$780 million) and €11.6 million for Cluster B respectively.

Investments expected to be implemented over a period of four years amount to approximately to €330 million while investments for the duration of the concession will amount approximately to €1.4 billion. These investment amounts are over and above the upfront and the annual fees offered by the preferred bidder.