ATHENS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Six investment schemes submitted expressions of interest for the sale of lignite units of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), the company announced on Thursday.

PPC, the largest power utility in the country, received expressions of interest for the acquisition of a majority stake (100 percent) in the share capital of Meliti unit in northern Greece and Megalopolis unit in the south by Greek companies Mytilineos, GEK TERNA and Elvalhalcor, according to the PPC statement.

In addition, the consortium Beijing Guohua Power Company Ltd and Damco Energy S.A expressed interest along the Czech companies Indoverse Coal Investments Ltd and Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding, the company said.

The PPC board will evaluate the expressions of interest and announce in coming weeks which candidates qualify for the next phase of the international tender.

Under bailout commitments by 2019 the state-controlled company will lose its monopoly status. Currently PPC has an almost 90 percent share of Greece's retail market which needs to be reduced by 40 percent under agreements with Greece's international lenders.

After the sale of the lignite-powered units PPC will lose 40 percent of its lignite capacity.