According to Macedonian daily Dnevnik, CEZ and five other companies are interested in 90% stake in Macedonian electricity distributor ESM Distribucija. The deadline is set for December 23, 2005 and short-listed companies should be known in a week time. ESM Distribucija is a distribution branch of state owned Electric Power Company of Macedonia (ECM), which manages the whole electricity sector in country. Macedonia follows the same pattern of privatization as Bulgaria and Romania; i.e. starting with privatization of its distribution. It is expected that there are no other preferences beside price in tender. We expect that separate privatization of distribution and production will lead to reduced value of ESM by 20% and albeit Macedonian small market we see this potential acquisition marginally positive as is matching into CEZ’s target region.