After Electricite de France submitted its bid after the bid deadline, International Power was excluded by the privatization committee, and Iberdrola withdrew from the Enel/Iberdrola consortium during privatization talks, the Cabinet said it would discuss CEZ privatization again on January 7, 2002, Enel and EdF remain the only candidates in the tender process. The only known bid price, by Enel/Iberdrola was reported at CZK 135 bil. (for CEZ and six regional distributors; we estimate that this corresponds to approx. CZK 287 per CEZ share).
Reportedly, none of the bids fully complied with the tender conditions, nor did the price reach the CZK 200 bil. sought by the state. The Cabinet postponed the privatization completion in order to negotiate both the financial and non-financial parts of the bids. Since Prime Minister Zeman said that the tender would be canceled unless the bids exceed CZK 200 bil., it seems unlikely that the government will resolve the tender before the next general election in June 2002.
(Jiri Soustruznik)