{"id":622260,"date":"2026-08-05T18:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622260\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T18:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:40:14","slug":"french-asset-management-firm-meridiam-takes-majority-share-in-interconnector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622260\/","title":{"rendered":"French asset management firm Meridiam takes majority share in interconnector"},"content":{"rendered":"

French asset management firm Meridiam took a majority share in the Great Sea Interconnector on Wednesday<\/strong>, buying Greece\u2019s independent transmission system operator (Admie) out of its controlling stake.<\/p>\n

The deal puts Meridiam, which prior to Wednesday\u2019s signing boasted a portfolio of assets worth around $23 billion (\u20ac19.9bn), in the project\u2019s driving seat, ending Admie\u2019s almost three-year tenure as the project\u2019s majority shareholder.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the news, former Cypriot energy minister George Papanastasiou said that Meridiam\u2019s taking of a controlling stake in the company will \u201cof course help\u201d the project\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very good news. This is a fund which is viable joining a project which was looking for financiers,\u201d he told the Cyprus Mail, before adding that it may also help the governments of Greece and Cyprus\u2019 quest to secure funding from the European Investment Bank.<\/p>\n

The two governments had in April jointly penned a letter to the European Investment Bank to request a\u00a0new diligence study<\/a> for the project, with a view to possibly requesting\u00a0funding for the project\u2019s completion may be provided by the Luxembourg-based bank in due course<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Admie<\/strong> had <\/strong>taken over the running<\/strong><\/a> of the project from Cypriot-owned firm EuroAsia Interconnector Ltd in October 2023<\/strong>, with the company then being wound down.<\/p>\n

Meridiam describes itself as a \u201ctransformational infrastructure specialist\u201d which \u201cdelivers sustainable and resilient infrastructure over the long term\u201d.<\/p>\n

Among the projects it currently manages is Sofia airport, for which it holds a 99-per-cent share in the rights to its operation until 2055<\/strong>, while it also undertook a 33-year project for the maintenance of the United Kingdom\u2019s M8 motorway, and undertook a project to build five hospitals in Turkey \u2013 in Adana, in Bursa, in Gaziantep, in Elazig, and in Yozgat.<\/p>\n

Progress on the interconnector, which, if completed, will connect the electricity grids of Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, has been slow thus far, with the most recent development being the joint letter to the European Investment Bank.<\/p>\n

Previously, the governments of Greece and Cyprus had announced in November last year that\u00a0the \u201c<\/strong>economic and technical parameters<\/strong><\/a>\u201d of the project would be \u201cupdated\u201d with a view to attracting more investors to the project.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, French cable manufacturer Nexans<\/a> had announced in March that an undersea trial of the type of cable to be used to form the interconnector had been completed successfully.<\/p>\n

The project has also won the endorsement of the European Commission, with Energy Commissioner\u00a0Dan Jorgensen<\/a>\u00a0telling the\u00a0Cyprus Mail\u00a0that it constitutes a \u201ckey strategic link\u201d which will end Cyprus\u2019 energy isolation\u201d, \u201csecure the stability of the electrical network throughout the entire island\u201d, and \u201cfundamentally, lower energy prices\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the European Commission had provided \u20ac658 million worth of grants for the project, though the European public prosecutor\u2019s office (EPPO) announced last September that it had launched an investigation<\/a> into the project, with a \u201cpolitically exposed person\u201d having allegedly used their position and connections to seek and secure those grants.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was reported that the EPPO\u2019s investigation concerns a company which was partially owned by Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis\u2019 father-in-law<\/a> Michael Gourzis. Gerapetritis has denied this.<\/p>\n

The new economic and technical parameters which the governments of Greece and Cyprus had planned to outline last November were to come alongside a new feasibility study, Papanastasiou, who was energy minister at the time, having said then that the project \u201cmust undergo an update, even in the financial aspect\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important parameter of this study is to attract strong investors, who will have the ability to implement the project<\/strong>, so that the challenges surrounding the financial and possibly the technical aspects are sustainable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It has been hoped that efforts to open the project to further investment may soothe a rift which opened last year between the governments of Cyprus and Greece over\u00a0the <\/strong>Cypriot government\u2019s initial agreement to make five annual payments of \u20ac25 million to Admie\u00a0for the project.<\/p>\n

Those payments were to be made in advance of the project\u2019s completion, so as to ensure that Admie would have a stable income while investing in the project before it turns a profit.<\/p>\n

However, the Cypriot government withheld the funds<\/strong>, citing a lack of tangible progress on the project and differences in opinion regarding how the money should be sourced as its reasons behind not paying the money.<\/p>\n

Papanastasiou said last September that the Republic of Cyprus would pay the first \u20ac25m instalment when the project is being \u201cimplemented in its entirety\u201d, and that the construction of cables alone is \u201cnot enough<\/a>\u201d to meet this criterion.<\/p>\n

Differences between the two governments became further entrenched Cypriot\u00a0Finance Minister Makis Keravnos accused Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou of \u201c<\/strong>fake news<\/strong><\/a>\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>over the matter, with Gerapetritis\u00a0calling for clarity<\/a>\u00a0regarding Cyprus\u2019 position the following day.<\/p>\n

Keravnos\u2019 comments had come after Papastavrou had said that he \u201cdoes not show\u201d the studies which he claimed demonstrate the project is not sustainable.<\/p>\n

In response, he said the studies had been commissioned by Papanastasiou, that they were \u201cproperly delivered\u201d to the Greek energy ministry, and that they had even been sent to Papastavrou\u2019s predecessor Theodoros Skylakakis.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Greek government took offence at President Nikos Christodoulides\u2019 remark that Cyprus \u201c<\/strong>will not be blackmailed<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by any head of Admie\u201d, <\/strong>with Papastavrou saying that \u201c51 per cent of Admie belongs to the Hellenic Republic\u201d and that \u201cthe Hellenic Republic does not engage<\/a> in blackmail\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French asset management firm Meridiam took a majority share in the Great Sea Interconnector on Wednesday, buying Greece\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[177],"tags":[262872,79,152040,18,262873,19,17,234,235,4612],"class_list":["post-622260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-admie","tag-business","tag-cyprus-news","tag-eire","tag-great-sea-interconnector-gsi","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-top"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}