According to a Financial Times report on Tuesday, the two key ministries involved in CEZ privatization — ministries of industry and finance — are close to a joint proposal on how to sell the government's stakes in CEZ and other power utilities. FT quoted Deputy Finance Minister Jan Mladek as saying that the Cabinet could make a decision next month. It was the inability of the two ministries to find a common ground on CEZ’s privatization that has prevented any progress in power-sector privatization and which has resulted in several Cabinet decisions being postponed this year. We believe that tangible progress in CEZ’s privatization would attract fresh investor interest and provide a boost to the stock, which has been stagnating around CZK 110 for some time. Moreover, the FT report mentioned a plan to combine the government's stakes in regional distributors and CEZ and selling the single stake to a single investor, and named EdF of France and National Power of the UK as the supposed front-runners. Although the idea of the government selling all the power utilities to one investor has been long pursued by the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Finance has opposed this and has preferred a more standard sale via an advisor. The Ministry of Finance may have had a change of heart, but it would be premature to speculate on the outcome of the government's decision-making process at this time. The report did not help the stock yesterday; CEZ closed 2.6% down, at CZK 111.3.