MFDnes says that by selling the whole stake in CEZ (67% instead of 64%, the Cabinet should decide on this on Wednesday) the government would raise an additional CZK 1.78 billion in the privatization. This implies expected privatization revenue of CZK 100 per CEZ share.
MFDnes also says that the Ministry of Industry sought an additional condition to be added to the power-sector privatization tender, namely that the winner must hold the acquired stakes for at least ten years. The privatization commission did not accept this request; on Friday, October 5, it will decide which bidders will proceed to the second round of the tender.
European Commissioner Loyola De Palacio said that the Temelin nuclear power plant has the same standard of safety as the nuclear plants in Bavaria, Germany. Positive.
After successfully selling its cheapest electricity package (CZK 730 per MWh), CEZ offered three other packages, for CZK 880, 820, and 900 per MWh (the packages differ in terms of supply), a CEZ spokesman said on Thursday. All the offered prices are well below the regulated price in 2001 (CZK 970 per MWh), which confirms CEZ’s declared intention to re-gain domestic market share. Nevertheless, the company’s CFO said that CEZ could reach a 70% domestic market share in the medium term (currently approx. 65%), which is not significant growth given the aggressive price reduction; the overall effect on profits, therefore, is likely to be negative. This negative news has been at least partially absorbed by the market, i.e. we expect little impact on the stock.
Separately, Czech SEC spokeswoman told us on Thursday that the SEC has not adopted a position that the buyer of the government stake in CEZ would be required to make a buyout offer to minority shareholders. We made the enquiry following a report by the HN newspaper on Thursday that the SEC would likely require such a buy out.
(Jiri Soustruznik)