PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech election winner ANO and its proposed coalition partners have two scenarios prepared for taking control of majority state-owned utility CEZ, newspaper Hospodarske Noviny quoted a senior ANO official as saying on Tuesday.
ANO campaigned for the October election on promises that included getting full control over CEZ, in which the state already owns 70%, as a way to secure investments in the sector and have more impact on energy prices.
On Monday, ANO signed a coalition deal with the right-wing, eurosceptic Motorists and the far-right, anti-European Union and anti-NATO SPD. ANO’s leader, populist billionaire Andrej Babis, wants to have a government in place by mid-December.
The parties said in a joint policy agenda they aimed to take steps to gain 100% control over production in CEZ, a slight change to ANO’s previous wording and raising speculation of a division of the company into power plants and distribution.
ANO vice-chairman Karel Havlicek said in the interview with HN that using the word production in the policy agenda did not mean the coalition could not also take over all of CEZ.
He said two scenarios existed but did not give details. He reiterated the process could take two years.
The parties aim to finance taking control of CEZ, which has a market capitalisation of $33 billion, through a buyback, not using budget spending – a plan some analysts have questioned.
Havlicek said this would mean that CEZ may not pay a dividend “in the short term”.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet;Editing by Alison Williams)
