Five conflict Oblenergos fail to hold EGMs again

Five conflict Oblenergos failed to hold EGMs again on December 9: Prykarpatoblenergo (PREN), Sumyoblenergo (SOEN), Chernihivoblenergo (CHEON), Lvivoblenergo (LVON) and Poltavaoblenergo (POON). A representative of Poltavaoblenergo said their EGM was banned by a court decision; the other companies did not disclose reasons for failure to convene EGMs. This is the second fruitless attempt by the companies to hold EGMs, after October 15. Due to conflicts between shareholders that commonly own 40%, shareholder meetings in LVON, SOEN, POON and CHEON have not been held since 2001. Only PREN, where the conflicting parties own 36%, has held annual meetings regularly. Alexander Paraschiy: We believe that unless the companies are fully privatized (25%-27% stakes are scheduled for privatization in 2009), there is a low chance that the companies will hold shareholder meetings. Privatization tenders can clarify the shareholder control and be an important step toward resolving the conflicts. For additional details, refer to our Oct. 16 news and to our Dec. 15, 2005 Oblenergo report.