WARSAW/LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Czech power group CEZ has made a bid for Poland's 50 percent stake in utility PAK, making it the second company after ENEA to confirm an interest in PAK.
'We did submit those unbinding statements to PAK that we are interested,' Alan Svoboda, executive director sales and trading at CEZ, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in London.
But he said Poland had to be prepared to sell the asset at a loss, as the business had built a power plant before prices dropped.
'It would require a further big discount when buying just one (stake from the three stakeholders),' Svoboda said.
Expanding CEZ's operations in Poland would be a logical step as the country 'is close, it's big, it has a similar profile (to the Czech Republic), with lots of coal generation, but we never found a way to enter the market in a profitable way,' he said.
Business daily Puls Biznesu had reported on Tuesday, without citing sources, that CEZ was among the five bidders for Poland's 50 percent stake in utility PAK.
It said mining group New World Resources and boiler maker Rafako, in which Elektrim has a stake, had also offered to buy 50 percent of PAK. The paper said Cyprus-registered company J&P was also bidding.
An NWR representative denied it had made an offer, while the other potential bidders were not immediately available to comment.
Next to CEZ, Polish state utility Enea is the only other declared bidder for the stake in PAK, which is the subject of an ownership dispute between the government and conglomerate Elektrim, controlled by media mogul Zygmunt Solorz-Zak.
Poland's treasury ministry, which oversees state assets, said on Monday it had received several offers for its holding, but did not elaborate.
(Reporting by Chris Borowski, Jan Korselt and Peter Dinkloh; Editing by Hans Peters and Will Waterman) Keywords: POLAND PAK/ (chris.borowski@reuters.com; +48 22 653 9712; Reuters Messaging: chris.borowski.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'We did submit those unbinding statements to PAK that we are interested,' Alan Svoboda, executive director sales and trading at CEZ, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in London.
But he said Poland had to be prepared to sell the asset at a loss, as the business had built a power plant before prices dropped.
'It would require a further big discount when buying just one (stake from the three stakeholders),' Svoboda said.
Expanding CEZ's operations in Poland would be a logical step as the country 'is close, it's big, it has a similar profile (to the Czech Republic), with lots of coal generation, but we never found a way to enter the market in a profitable way,' he said.
Business daily Puls Biznesu had reported on Tuesday, without citing sources, that CEZ was among the five bidders for Poland's 50 percent stake in utility PAK.
It said mining group New World Resources and boiler maker Rafako, in which Elektrim has a stake, had also offered to buy 50 percent of PAK. The paper said Cyprus-registered company J&P was also bidding.
An NWR representative denied it had made an offer, while the other potential bidders were not immediately available to comment.
Next to CEZ, Polish state utility Enea is the only other declared bidder for the stake in PAK, which is the subject of an ownership dispute between the government and conglomerate Elektrim, controlled by media mogul Zygmunt Solorz-Zak.
Poland's treasury ministry, which oversees state assets, said on Monday it had received several offers for its holding, but did not elaborate.
(Reporting by Chris Borowski, Jan Korselt and Peter Dinkloh; Editing by Hans Peters and Will Waterman) Keywords: POLAND PAK/ (chris.borowski@reuters.com; +48 22 653 9712; Reuters Messaging: chris.borowski.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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