CEZ will issue CZK 3 bil. in bonds due in 2008, with annual interest of 3.35%, to refinance a bond issue that is callable this month, Bloomberg has reported. We expect CEZ would save interest costs of CZK 231 mil. (USD 9 mil.) annually. The issuance is part of a 10-year program that allows the company to issue as much as CZK 30 bil. in new bonds. Expected.
Separately, CEZ said that it continues negotiations with RWE of Germany toward swapping minority stakes in domestic power distributors (i.e., CEZ's 34% stake in PRE for RWE's 35% stake in STE), a top priority for CEZ. RWE is reportedly uninterested in the swap, though, and negotiations with other potential buyers are thus likely, the Czech daily Lidove noviny reports. The negotiations follow a recent agreement between CEZ and E.ON of Germany for a stakes swap involving four domestic distributors.
Also separately, CEZ CEO J. Mil said yesterday that he largely favors a proposal by the Ministry of Industry that would cancel coal-mining limits and that would expand nuclear-energy production in the country, one of several proposals being considered by the state as it considers refashioning energy-sector policy. Mr. Mil said that the company expects to rebuild most lignite-fired power plants in Northern Bohemia by 2013 and to replace its Dukovany nuclear power plant with a new one by 2028.
Jan Hájek