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Aug. 8, 2003 - Slovakia will ask investors in the coming weeks to again throw their hats in the ring in the battle for control of dominant power producer Slovenske Elektrarne, the state's adviser on the sale said on Thursday.
The government said last month it would re-open a stalled sale tender, originally launched last September, in which it is offering a stake of at least 49 per cent and management control over state-owned SE, after Czech state-controlled power producer CEZ said it wanted in on the deal.
In the original process, eight firms made non-binding bids, having the choice of vying for the company's nuclear or conventional assets separately or for the company as a whole.
But when no potential investor showed an interest in SE's two nuclear plants, the sale bogged down. The economy ministry remained tight-lipped about progress on the deal until last month when CEZ said it would consider buying all of SE.
The eight firms will have a chance to reconfirm their participation along with CEZ and one other company that has not been specified, PricewaterhouseCoopers's Peter Mitka, the government's adviser on the deal, told Reuters.
"The advertisement should go out within the next few weeks," he said. CEZ had not yet submitted a bid and that, until now, there had been no bid for the nuclear part of SE, he added.
A source close to the deal said last month that, beside CEZ, the firms eyeing the SE stake included Germany's E.ON and EnBW, Austria's Verbund, Italy's Enel, Electricite de France, Britain's International Power and American firm AES Corp.
SE has a share of around 85 per cent of Slovakia's power market, but its large debt load and ageing nuclear assets - part of which are set to begin decommissioning later this decade - are potential sticking points with investors.
Mitka also said that the government was still working under the assumption that the new buyer would take over SE's 54 billion crowns ($1.47 billion) of debt, 30 billion of which is state guaranteed.
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