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The new chairman of the Public Property Management Agency, which manages the privatization programme of Greece, is Stelios Stavridis. Until last week, he was the chairman of the public water supply company EYDAP. The Ministry of Finance appointed Stavridis after Takis Athanasopoulos, the recent manager of the Agency, became the main defendant in the case against the board of the Greek Public Power Corporation for damages in 2007.

Stelios Stavridis has a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Zurich, Switzerland and postgraduate degrees in business administration and economics. He was an assistant at the Institute of Thermodynamics in Zurich as well. He is fluent in English, French, and German and good at Italian and Spanish. In the 1980s, he was the head of Lavipharm and of Aigaion, a leading company in the textile industry. In the 1990s, he was holding managerial positions at both the Hellenic Petroleum and the Aspropyrgos refinery. In November 2012, he was appointed Chairman of the Board and chief executive officer of EYDAP.

The Ministry of Finance voted confidence to Stavridis not only because of his managerial experience, but also because of his good connections with the business circles in the country and abroad. He is a member of the board of both the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce and the Athens Chamber of Commerce. According to his CV, which is available on his personal website, he is the chairman of the EuroCommerce Social Dialogue Committee – an employers' organization in Europe, which represents more than six million commercial enterprises, employing 31 million people.

With Stavridis assuming the office, the Public Property Management Agency has invited tenders for the sale and rent of 28 key public buildings. Among them are properties that formerly housed ministries, tax offices and police stations. The investors, who express an interest in them, will be able to acquire the buildings or to sign long-term contracts to use the property. The first phase of the process is collecting the bids and the final date is 19 April this year.

If investors meet the criteria set by the Ministry of Finance, they will be approved for the second phase. Then, the interested participants will sign a confidentiality agreement and will receive additional information about the structure of the transaction and the terms of its realization. The third phase of the privatization of the 28 buildings will select the new owners / users in accordance with the projects provided by them.

Among the properties included in the tender are the buildings of ministry of culture, general police department in Athens, ministries of justice, education, health, criminal investigation directorate and the national statistics service. The buildings of these ministries are in different areas of Athens, which are distinguished for the high commercial value of the property. It is not yet known where the administrative activities of these institutions will be moved. The privatization plan also includes office buildings in Thessaloniki, Serres, Xanthi and Corinth.