The Slovak Finance Minister has said that he is going to recommend the Slovenske elektrarne tender winner to the Cabinet for final approval on Friday, October 1, after postponing his decision several times. Rusko will hold a press conference (no exact time was given). The cabinet should then make the final decision on Wednesday, October 6. (Source CTK).
Note that the privatization advisor recommended Enel as the winner with a EUR 840m bid. CEZ came second with a bid of EUR 690m, while Inter RAO came third. CEZ reportedly submitted two bids - worth EUR 690m and 1.19bn (the latter subject to three conditions that the privatization advisor found unacceptable). While we must point out that the bids are very complex and only limited information is available to the public, we see CEZ's bids as too aggressive and therefore assess its failure to win the tender as positive news for the stock.
Separately, CEZ's CEO, Martin Roman, met with the Bulgarian Energy Ministry yesterday to discuss the planned privatization of four coal-fired power plants. Apart from energy distribution, CEZ is also interested in the energy production segment. (Neutral).
In other news, the first block of NPP Temelin will resume operation on October 7 at the earliest after a halt caused by leaks at the non-nuclear part on September 19.
Tomáš Gatěk