A petition by the Greek state and Piraeus Bank to declare the Hellenic Shipyards at Skaramangas insolvent was heard before an Athens First Instance court on Friday.
A ruling by the court’s sole justice is expected within a month.
If the petition is accepted, then the ownership of Greece’s largest shipyard will immediately change, with a special liquidator given 12 months to sell-off assets in an international tender.
The government has promised, in such a case, to divide the troubled shipyard into a commercial and a military division.
One reported suitor for a future commercial division is Chinese multinational Cosco, which manages the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) and owns a majority stake of the entity.
If no buyers are forthcoming, then the shipyards will be declared bankrupt.
If the court rules against the petition, then the shares of the shipyards remain in the hands of Privinvest, which is controlled by the Lebanese-French Safa group.
