MITSY Mitsui and Company Ltd (PK)

Chinese shipping and port giant China Cosco Holding Co. on Tuesday made a binding offer for a majority stake in the long-delayed privatization of Greece's main port of Piraeus, a move that is expected to earn cash-strapped Athens hundreds of millions of euros and turn the Mediterranean port into a logistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe.

The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, which handles state asset sales, didn't reveal the value​of the bid, but gave Cosco a week to make a better offer.

Two other shortlisted investors​—APM Terminals, owned by Danish shipping conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, and Philippines-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc.—didn't submit binding bids.

"After careful review, we concluded that [Piraeus] is not an attractive business for us," said Tom Boyd, a spokesman for APM Terminals.

People familiar with the transaction said Cosco's bid for a 67% stake in the port was around €700 million (around $760 million) including about €350 million in infrastructure investments over five years. The original offer to investors was a 67.7% stake.​

The Wall Street Journal reported that Cosco was the favorite to win the concession given its strong ties with Greece's government and the fact that it already operates two container terminals in Piraeus under a 35-year concession it acquired in 2009.

Piraeus, a few miles south of the Greek capital, is the de facto home of the country's giant shipping industry and is one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean.

Cosco already uses Pireaus as a transshipment hub for Asian exports to Europe arriving on container vessels from China, given its proximity to the Suez Canal.

Cosco ​executives and other Chinese officials have said that they want to ​develop the port into a logistics center that will move goods, mostly via rail, to Eastern Europe.

Write to Costas Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2016 12:55 ET (17:55 GMT)

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