CEZ

Czech officials asked CEZ to look into splitting the company and selling non-production asset, while Czech investor Jaromir Tesar upped his bid for the Company’s Bulgarian assets, according to media reports.

CEZ Bulgaria deal can be postponed further in 2018

According to a report by Reuters, the Czech government has asked CEZ to spin off distribution and renewable assets with the government to take full control over the nuclear and coal plants. According to Reuters, “the government has been working with three options – either a CEZ subsidiary would build new nuclear units, with some form of state backing; or the government would buy a small CEZ unit to build the plants; the third option is carving out a bigger part of CEZ.”

The last option entails spinning off the Company’s distribution, sales, energy services and renewable plants and potentially selling up to 100% of them to private investors, according to a presentation for the meeting seen by Reuters.

Government officials have asked CEZ to prepare the details on the spin off by the end of the year which could mean that any potential sale of Bulgarian assets will be postponed further into 2018.

Currently, the Company is negotiating the sale of its Bulgarian distribution, energy sale and production assets but according to media reports is not satisfied with final bids received.

Energo-Pro owner bids higher for CEZ assets in Bulgaria

In the meantime the Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny reported local investor Jaromir Tesar has upped his offer for CEZ’ Bulgarian assets. Tesar is key shareholder in Czech Energo-Pro which operates the third largest energy distribution network in Bulgaria. The newspaper quotes a spokesperson saying that “Energo-Pro has responded to CEZ’s bid to adjust its offer to buy CEZ’s assets in Bulgaria, and today it has submitted an adjusted offer that meets the required parameters”. This entail the offer is close to EUR 300m that would allow CEZ to sell its Bulgarian assets with profit after an initial investment of EUR 281m. CEZ officials decline to comment if other bidders have adjusted their bids but said the Company is still negotiating and there will certainly be rounds of negotiations.

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