ALL SEVEN companies that had previously expressed interest in buying a 90 percent stake of the steam-gas company Paroplynovy Cyklus (PPC) delivered binding offers for the entire company to the state-run privatisation agency FNM, reported the TASR news wire.
Originally, a public tender was announced only for the sale of 90 percent of PPC. But the Slovak government later decided the stake should be privatised along with a 10 percent minority stake held by the soon-to-be privatised national power utility Slovenské elektrárne.
The Slovenské elektrárne management announced it would agree to the sale only if the offered price was higher than Sk600 million (€14.7 million).
Interest in buying PPC was confirmed by two domestic financial groups, J&T and 1. Garantovaná.
According to information published by local media, the potential bidders also include the Czech group PPF; Slovak regional energy distributor ZSE; Energetika Třinec (Czech Republic); E.ON Energie (Germany); Dalkia (France); and Aare-Tessin AG fur Elektrizität (Switzerland) in cooperation with Penta, a Slovak financial group.
Soon after the first offers had been submitted, Slovak Economy Minister Pavol Rusko expressed concerns about the conduct of the tender, saying it was leaning towards choosing a winner in advance. He was also unhappy that financial groups were so closely involved.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
