France’s Meridiam Buys Into Greek Power Link With Cyprus, Israel

(Bloomberg) -- Meridiam SAS agreed to buy a stake in Greece’s €1.9 billion ($1.98 billion) project to link its power grid with Cyprus and Israel through undersea cables across the eastern Mediterranean, people familiar with the deal said. 

Under the agreement, the French infrastructure investor will acquire a 49.9% stake in the Great Sea Interconnector project, while Greek grid operator IPTO will retain 50.1%, said the people, asking not to be named because the deal hasn’t been made public yet.  

The subsea power link will be among the largest globally and paves the way for integrating Cyprus, the last non-interconnected European Union member, into the bloc’s transmission system. Over 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) of high-voltage cables will be laid at depths of as much as 3,000 meters.

Both companies will fund their share of the project, and the agreement also allows for the possibility of additional investors joining in the future, the people said. 

Representatives for IPTO and Meridiam declined to comment.

GSI is the implementing entity for the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnection project and a subsidiary of IPTO. 

As part of the agreement, GSI’s board of directors will initially consist of 11 members, six to be appointed by IPTO, also known by its Greek initials as Admie, and the remaining five by Meridiam, the person said.  

The organizational structure of GSI will follow the terms of the concession agreement, which both parties have agreed upon, one of the people said.

Construction of the Cyprus-to-Greece link via Crete began in 2023. In the next phase of the project, Israel will also be able to enhance its security of supply while gaining the ability to increase, further and faster, the participation of renewable sources in its energy mix.

The venture is included in the EU’s list of projects of common interest and the bloc has already awarded a grant of €657 million for the Cyprus-Crete section. 

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