Finance Minister Jiri Rusnok said that he believes CEZ will be privatized by the new Cabinet (Czech Press Agency). The ministries of finance and industry are to submit a proposal by the end of February on how to proceed with privatization. Rusnok’s statement confirms our expectations that the privatization will be postponed, and that a new tender is likely after the general elections in May/June.
The weekly Prague Business Journal reports today that RWE of Germany could be interested in a direct CEZ sale. We believe that it is unlikely that CEZ would be sold directly, because (i) the buyer would likely have to fulfill the same strict privatization conditions as posed in the recently canceled tender, and (ii) due to transparency concerns.
The Austrian referendum on CEZ’s Temelin nuclear power plant wraps up today, though the results are unlikely to have an impact on CEZ (the referendum is non-binding on the Austrian government).
(Jiri Soustruznik)