Deputy Industry Minister, Martin Pecina, said yesterday that the government should not privatize CEZ during the next three to five years. Pecina citied several reasons for not selling the state's 67% stake including: (i) a possible division of the Czech market among CEZ's competitors, (ii) a possible halt in building new production facilities and (iii) waiting until the EU electricity market is fully liberalized. The comment is in line with recent comments from some other top-level politicians including the Ministry of Finance; these do not expect full privatization of CEZ nor the sale of the state's 16% stake in the company until 2006.
Separately, CEZ selected Tomas Huner as CEO for its three recently acquired distribution companies in Bulgaria. Huner is the former CEO of Severomoravska energetika (SME), in which CEZ holds a 59.1% stake. Huner was reportedly chosen by CEZ's CEO. The Mlada Fronta daily reports that in the past Huner strongly opposed merging CEZ with distribution companies.
Tomáš Gatěk