The Russian UES RAO has the highest chances to win the Slovenske elektrarne privatization tender as it is interested in all assets of the dominant Slovak power producer (26TWh annually) as reported by the Slovak Pravda daily. Note that CEZ submitted a bid for all SE's assets excluding the A1 and V1 blocks of NPP Bohunice (A1 was shut down after an accident in 1979 and the V1 block is to be shut down in 2006-08); CEZ has however offered to operate them. The Italian Enel declined to comment on its bid, the Austrian Verbund is interested only in SE's non-nuclear assets.
The Economy Minister, P. Rusko indicated that CEZ's bid must significantly exceed the RAO's bid to eliminate the fact, that CEZ is not interested in all assets. He indicated that a SKK 40bn premium would be "super".
The privatization advisor (PWC) should submit its recommendation on a tender winner to the Slovak Cabinet by August 12; the privatization contract may be signed in October.
Jan Hájek