BRATISLAVA, June 22, (WEBNOVINY)– The government privatization agency, the National Property Fund (FNM), wants to settle outstanding issues linked with the sale of the 66-percent stake in the power producer Slovenske Elektrarne, a.s. (SE) to the Italian energy giant Enel by the end of the year. FNM is already looking for a company to make a new assessment of the financial statements of Slovakia’s dominant power producer as of April 26, 2006. “The public procurement of a provider of economic and legal assessment of selected accounting items of the audited financial statements has been commenced. We predict completion of the settlement and subsequently the whole process of privatization of Slovenske Elektrarne to be completed by the end of 2011,” said director of the Office of the Chairwoman of the Executive Committee at the government privatization agency, Miloslav Homola.
The state already wanted to settle the outstanding issues with Enel under the previous government of Robert Fico. Former Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek submitted a proposal for the method of completion of privatization of SE at the end of 2009 for Cabinet approval, so that none of the contractual parties would be obliged to pay any additional money to the other contractual party as a modification of the purchase price, a so-called zero variant. At that time, the coalition party SNS did not agree to the proposal and claimed an additional payment is due from Enel for the sale of Slovenske Elektrarne. The former government therefore did not manage to complete the settlement before last year’s parliamentary elections.
Homola informed that with regard to the material elaborated by the previous Cabinet, Enel called on the present management of FNM and the Economy Ministry to implement the agreed-upon zero variant with the aim of finalizing the process of privatization of Slovenske Elektrarne. The new FNM management did not like the proposal that the former FNM management and the Economy Ministry drew up, especially the selection of the consulting company Tax-Audit, which advised the state in elaboration of the zero variant. “In the procurement of a consulting company, three applicants were addressed, the call was published in a place accessible to the public and submitted bids were assessed. With respect to the seriousness of the whole matter, the current FNM management decided to announce a transparent international public tender,” added Homola.
FNM announced a tender for provider of the service of economic and legal assessment of Slovenske Elektrarne’s accounting in February. The fund included applicants who expressed interest in the tender by the end of March in the procurement process. “Another step in the procurement process is sending a call for submission of bids and tender dossiers to applicants who met the tender terms. The criterion for selecting the successful bidder will be the lowest price,” said Homola. The bids can be submitted by mid-July of this year.
Slovenske Elektrarne is the largest electricity producer in Slovakia and the No. 2 power producer in the CEE region. Following its privatization in April 2006, Italian Enel S.p.A. holds 66 percent in the company. The Slovak Republic owns the remaining 34-percent stake through the government privatization agency, the National Property Fund. Its stockholders’ rights are executed by the Economy Ministry. Slovakia’s dominant power producer Slovenske Elektrarne, a.s. (SE) operates installed capacity of 5,737.24 MW.
SITA