CEZ´s acquisition director, Vladimir Schmalz, said that CEZ has been invited to a clarification meeting on Tuesday next week (October 26) regarding its bid for the two Romanian distributors that CEZ submitted on Monday (October 18). Source: Bloomberg
Schmalz also said that CEZ plans to take part in the planned privatization of Bulgarian power production facilities (TEC Varna, TEC Rousse and TEC Bobovdol). CEZ is also very interested in acquisitions in Poland in both the production and distribution fields. Schmalz also expressed CEZ´s interest in Russia´s energy system once its national utility RAO UES is split up. Source: Bloomberg. Apart from the interest in the Russian market, the above information has already been indicated before; CEZ sees acquisitions in the CEE region as its core strategy, supported by the need for restructuring privatized entities on one hand and CEZ's restructuring and liberalization expertise on the other.
Separately, CEZ announced yesterday that Jiri Borovec became a member of the BoD as of October 21 (yesterday) and a director for electricity power production in CEZ as of November 1. Source: CEZ.
Also, the Lower House passed an amended energy law yesterday assuming full liberalization of the electricity market by 2006 and of the natural gas market by 2007. The law was required by the EU. (Expected)
Tomáš Gatěk, Patria Finance