Serbia to change state power company status, and then sell it, daily reports

NEWS 14.02.202011:04
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Serbia's Elektroprivreda power company (EPS) will change its public enterprise status into a shareholding firm this year, prior to its privatisation in 2021, the Belgrade Danas daily reported on Friday, citing its sources.

The daily added that during next year the Government would start a campaign to sell it to some of the big foreign power-energy companies.

The news contradicts earlier President Aleksandar Vucic’s vehement denial that EPS would be privatised and his announcement that it will buy power companies in the region.

Danas’ sources, however, claim the authorities seriously consider the selling of EPS what will be presented to the public after the general elections in April.

„EPS will first be transferred to a shareholding company this year, most likely in October. A package of shares will be distributed to the employees and Serbia’s citizens for free, while the remaining stock will be offered for sale to a foreign buyer what the time comes,“ a source close to EPS told the daily.

According to the source, there is a possibility that the selling of EPS will be in phases since the company is divided into several smaller parts.

The authorities will describe the selling as a strategic partnership, i.e. the state will keep a part of the ownership as it has been the case in earlier privatisations of public companies.

Danas says that one of the reasons why Serbia’s regime seriously thinks to sell EPS is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tendency toward such a solution.

Besides, one of the key arguments in favour of the privatisation will be the Fiscal Council’s estimate about some 5.6 billion Euros is needed to invest into EPS in the next ten years so that it „can satisfy an increasing demand for electric power.“

The experts told Danas that one of the pre-conditions for the EPS privatisation is that the company reach the so-called market price for electric power, what practically means it will have to go up for one-third of its current level.