The state, as a 34-percent shareholder in the power utility Slovenske Elektrarne, has encountered complications, Economy Minister Richard Sulik said in the Parliament while presenting the amendment to the Act on Critical Infrastructure that the parliament is expected to pass in the fast track procedure. “The problem is that Slovenske Elektrarne is in huge debts due to the catastrophic management of the Italian company Enel in connection with the completion of Mochovce NPP. Everything was put as collateral in favour of banks. This is where the problem begins,“ Sulik explained. One of the lenders of Slovenske Elektrarne, Sberbank, rejected the extension of the maturity of loans, Sulik says. “It was surprising since the maturity had been previously extended several times, even in a worse situation than today,“ Sulik added. As a result, Slovenske Elektrarne has been formally in bankruptcy since Monday. Sberbank started requiring not only individual parts of Slovenske Elektrarne as a guarantee, but also the company’s shares. “This has happened in the past two or three weeks. In addition, Enel and EPH (two shareholders of SE – each holding a 33-percent share – editor’s note) have had serious conflicts for several months which deteriorated the entire situation,“ Sulik stated.
Full story in Slovak: Slovenské elektrárne sú v problémoch, Sulík chce narýchlo prijať zákon
