The current finance minister wants to gradually sell the state’s 16% stake in CEZ next year of the stock market. Note that the Government’s total stake in CEZ totals 68%. The sale is opposed by the opposition, namely CSSD, which sees further appreciation of CEZ’s price and therefore prefers to keep the state’s stake in CEZ for longer.
Our view:
While speculations about the sale of CEZ have been present for long as the country sees rising budget deficit, we remind that the current Government needs to win the vote of confidence in the Lower House and is expected to ask for it on October 4. It is not likely that the Government would win the vote of confidence and therefore we see these comments as premature. The 16% stake in CEZ represents c94.8m shares and is currently worth CZK77.4bn ~ USD3.4bn. The average daily trading volume of CEZ equals USD63.5m.