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22 July 2003 - Lithuania invited tenders for the privatization of its two electricity distributors Monday in the hope of raising at least 780m litas ($257m). Tenders for the state's majority holdings in the two groups are due by 15 September.
The State Property Fund said that bids would be accepted from investors who met "criteria of European and Transatlantic integration" and that bidding dates and procedures would be fixed after that depending on the amount of interest. The privatizations are scheduled for completion in late 2003 or early 2004 ahead of the countries accession to the European Union in 2004.
Potential buyers of a 77 per cent stake in western grid VST, initially priced at 358.9m litas or 1.15 litas per share, were further required to be Lithuanian registered or have substantial operations in the small country. Bidders can tender for the state's 71.35 per cent holding in eastern power grid RST at an initial price of 421.6m litas, or 1.20 litas per share.
RST and VST were set up in 2002 during reorganisation of the power utility Lietuvos Energija
RST covers the Lithuanian regions of Vilnius, Panevezys, Utena and Alytus with 6,446 kilometres of underground power cables, 55,439 km of overhead lines, 196 high-voltage substations and 16,097 low-voltage substations.
VST covers the Kaunas, Klaipeda and Siauliai regions with 7,333 km of underground cables, 49,184 km of overhead lines, 189 high-voltage substations and 14,813 low-voltage
Interested in the companies has been expressed by Lithuania's Achema and NDX Energija as well as Finland's Fortum, France's EdF and Estonia's Eesti Energia. Germany's E.ON, which has a strategic role in the local gas utility, has also said it would be interested in a Lithuanian power distributor.
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