EditFrench firm Meridiam takes majority control of Great Sea Interconnector
€1.9 billion Greece-Cyprus power link gains stronger financing and European political weight, shifting pressure onto Nicosia
French infrastructure investor Meridiam has acquired a 66% stake in the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), the planned undersea electricity cable linking Greece and Cyprus. The deal, signed on 5 August 2026, does not alter the project’s route, capacity or technology. It does, however, fundamentally change who finances it, who bears most of the commercial risk, and the political weight behind it.
Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO/ADMIE) retains a 34% minority stake. It keeps technical leadership of the project and will operate the interconnector once completed. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has personally backed the agreement, calling it a strategic European project that will end Cyprus’s energy isolation.
Project basics remain the same
The GSI will consist of an approximately 898-kilometre high-voltage direct-current cable between Crete and Cyprus, with an initial capacity of 1,000 MW and an estimated cost of €1.9 billion. It already benefits from a €657 million grant from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility.
EU urges swift completion of Cyprus-Greece electricity interconnection
Alongside the shareholding change, IPTO, the GSI company and cable manufacturer Nexans signed a trilateral agreement to accelerate seabed surveys. This provides the first concrete mechanism to restart delayed technical work under the new ownership structure.
Stronger finances and institutional credibility
Meridiam manages around €24 billion in long-term infrastructure assets and has invested roughly €100 billion since its founding. Its involvement brings relationships with the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. By taking a majority stake, the French group absorbs most commercial risk and broadens the project’s capital base.
This does not eliminate outstanding questions. An updated cost assessment, final financing arrangements and regulatory decisions in both Greece and Cyprus are still required. Yet the project can no longer be dismissed as an investment orphan that no serious private player wants to touch.
Geopolitical shift
Meridiam is French, as is Nexans. The signing ceremony at the Maximos Mansion, combined with public references to support from President Emmanuel Macron, adds clear French – and by extension European – political cover.
Turkish objections to the project have not disappeared. Any future attempt to obstruct surveys or cable-laying will now confront not only a Greek-Cypriot initiative but a project of common European interest backed by substantial EU funding and two major French companies. This raises the political cost of interference, even if it does not provide a military guarantee.
What it means for Cyprus
Cyprus remains the only EU member state without an electricity interconnection to another member state. Its power system still depends heavily on imported liquid fuels. The GSI would create a second supply route: the ability to import cheaper electricity from the European market when available, provide backup capacity, and export surplus renewable energy (particularly solar).
It is not a guarantee of lower prices. Final costs will depend on tariff design, market rules and regulatory decisions still to come. But it would reduce dependence on heavy fuel oil and ease constraints on renewable expansion.
Nicosia’s delayed response
The Cypriot government has been slow to issue an official reaction, creating the impression that the agreement caught Nicosia off guard. Opposition parties reacted more quickly and positively, urging the government to honour its commitments.
With EU funding secured, a major institutional investor now in majority control, and stronger European political backing, the central question has shifted. It is no longer whether the project has international support. It is whether Cyprus will use this momentum to secure better terms, stronger consumer safeguards and faster progress – or remain a bystander in a project central to its own energy security.
The original article by EUalive’s partner Politis can be found here.
Caption: Videograb from the signature event [Website of the Prime Minister of Greece]
Updated: August 6, 2026 - 14:42
