According to Czech news agency CIA, CEZ together with 16 other companies expressed interest in a heating plant in Ruse, Bulgaria. Deadline to submit final binding bids for 100% state stake is set for 3 November 2006. The Ruse heating plant has 41MW of installed heating capacity and uses natural gas as fuel.
Our view:
Besides Ruse, Bulgaria plans to privatize 6 heating plants. Recently CEZ already expressed interest in two other heating plants in Varna and Plovdiv. Increased competition remains a threat of overpaying the assets, however so far CEZ showed good track of deals in the region. For the moment we view the news as neutral.