Will the Czech state keep its stake in CEZ?

Czech Industry Minister M. Urban said the state should keep control of power provider CEZ even after 2006 to ensure future electricity supplies. The government will discuss the state’s future energy strategy probably by the end of 2003, and Mr. Urban said the strategy should be turned into law to make it more difficult for future governments to change course and ensure the policy's continuance. Also, Mr. Urban wants to build as many as three nuclear reactors by 2025 (Bloomberg).

Continuing state ownership represents a downside for CEZ minority shareholders mainly due to possible implementation of other than value-maximization investment criteria (recall that CEZ would have to invest as much as CZK dozens of billion annually in 2010-2020 period in order to keep its production capacity stable). For details see our report on CEZ dated October 13.

Separately, Slovak Economy Minister P. Rusko said yesterday that the Slovak Cabinet will prefer those bidders for Slovenske elektrarne interested in completing the Mochovce nuclear power plant (CTK).

Jiří Soustružník