According to a senior source from the Greece privatization fund (TAIPED), the signing of the agreement for the transfer of the majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) to China’s Cosco Pacific is scheduled for April 8.

This means the signing will likely take place one week after the extraordinary general meeting of Athens-listed OLP, during which major stakeholder TAIPED will change the board members and reduce their number from 13 to 11, according to sources.

Along with the sale deal, TAIPED and Cosco will sign a shareholders’ agreement that will determine the relations between the two main stakeholders, as the state will retain a significant share of voting rights for at least the next five years.

The Cosco Group will pay €280.5 million to TAIPED for the initial acquisition of a 51 % stake, while it will pay another €88 million within five years for the remaining 16 percent, provided it has implemented the agreed investments in the port. TAIPED will hold on to a 7 percent stake in OLP.

Piraeus Port is one of the busiest passenger ports in Europe and one of the top cargo ports in the Mediterranean. Cargo traffic rose 15% to 3.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2013. 

These privatization is part of the Greece's privatization program, which aims to raise around €6.4 billion (US$7.27 billion) by 2017. It will be the second large privatization for Tsipras's government. Greece recently sealed a 1.2 billion euro leasing deal for 14 regional airports with Germany's Fraport.