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The value of companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange has dropped along with its collapse. Enterprises with state participation, which are to be privatized, have been affected the hardest. From 2010 onwards, the stock exchange has lost 70% of its capitalization. The same happened with 11 public enterprises traded on the stock market. Today, their total value is estimated at 2.3 billion euro, Nafteboriki reported and the capitalization is expected to further decline over time.
 
For the period 1997-2011, the public sector in Greece carried out by trading on the stock market privatization transactions totalling nine billion euro. If the government of George Papandreou had taken more drastic measures at the beginning of the crisis, before the start of the irreversible collapse of the local economy, Greece could have been in much better position in 2012 and rumours for a third support package or return to the drachma would have not spread. However, this did not happen. Papandreou’s political opponent at that time and present Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has to quickly trigger the privatization process.

Despite the low values, the government has something to offer local and foreign investors. The state owns over 82% of the Greek sugar industry, 74% of the port of Thessaloniki, 74% of the port of Piraeus, 71% of the company managing the water resources of Athens and 74% of Thessaloniki water. Furthermore, it holds 51% of the Public Power Corporation, 35% of Hellenic Petroleum, 34% of Post Bank and 10% of the telecommunications company OTE. The state remains a major shareholder in these companies or a shareholder with a voting right and the companies have leading positions in key sectors of local economy.

Greece made the first large-scale privatization in 1997, when it sold a significant part of OTE to the German giant Deutsche Telecoms. The country won 673 million euro from this transaction. Subsequently, it gradually offered shares of other companies profiting as much as possible. In the period 1996-2012, state-owned enterprises have raised an additional 6.2 billion euro through procedures for capital increase.

Triggering the mass privatization stipulated in the second contract for financial assistance to Greece will allow the Athens Stock Exchange to take a breath. Financiers hope it will reverse the negative downward trend of the basic indicator of the Athenian market and rouse the investors’ interest. The problem, however, is that privatization must be triggered with political will, which has proved weaker than necessary. Opponents of privatization processes have different viewpoints on why the state should not sell its assets, but finally it all comes down to the question "Why should we sell in times of crisis, when the market value is lower than the real one?" The answer most often is because the right moment had been omitted. In the case of Greece, times that are more favourable are not expected in the medium term. The aid to the country is still running, albeit with a dropper, but the patience of creditors will not last forever. Privatization is the responsibility of the state agreed under the second Memorandum and the development and expansion of the business of the sold companies will give added value to the local economy -new jobs, production, tax revenues. It now remains to find the right buyers.