Prime Minister Robert Fico (source: TASR)
Speaking after the government session on August 26, Fico said “we’ll do everything possible to see [nuclear plant] Mochovce completed and the position of the state's holding [in SE] strengthened. I still don’t rule out the government being interested in acquiring another 17 percent of SE’s shares in the future [so as to have a majority]. This option remains open,” he said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Enel announced in July that it had received two binding offers to sell a minority stake in 4Q15 followed by the rest of the shares after the two blocks at Mochovce have been built, which is expected to be in 2017-18.
Aside from EPH, a bid has been submitted by a consortium consisting of Slovak oil refinery Slovnaft and Hungarian energy company MVM. The consortium announced in July that it had upped its offer for purchasing the stake in SE. Czech energy company CEZ also originally showed interest in the shares, but it eventually decided not to submit an offer.
Slovak Economy Minister Vazil Hudák said last week that the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) was also interested in buying Enel’s stake and that it was carrying out due diligence at SE. He said that a binding bid should be directed to Enel by the end of August.
