Government decided to halt privatization of Severoceske doly

Komentář
Investiční bankovnictví KB

      Government decided yesterday to halt the privatization of Severoceske doly, as the bids did not met the government expectations. Nevertheless, the industrial minister Milan Urban proposed to continue exclusive negotiations with J&T, which was recommended by the privatization committee. The government asked the finance and industrial ministries to prepare new plan for privatization of Severoceske doly until the end of the year. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that CEZ would again try to take part in the privatization to take control over its biggest coal supplier. The government will continue in privatization of Sokolovska uhelna exclusively negotiating with Sokolovska tezebni, which offered CZK 2.1bn. Government expectation is at least CZK 2.5bn.

       The decision leads to a short-fall in government revenues and therefore it is possible the government would like to got the missing money from the other sources. One possibility is higher dividend payment from government-controlled companies (CEZ, Cesky Telecom). However, the decision could also bring potentially negative news for the market. The government could decide to reduce its stake in CEZ by 16%, which would put the company’s shares under pressure. Moreover, the risk government would be willing to accept lower price in privatization of Unipetrol would increase.

      Tyto zprávy pro vás vytváří Investiční bankovnictví KB.