Odessaoblenergo Plans Share Issue.

Odessaoblenergo (ODEN: N/R) announced a planned share issue increasing its charter fund by 2.9 times, which will be voted on a Nov. 6 EGM. Subscription would be from Dec. 28 to Jan. 19. The $20m raised would be spent on CapEx and increasing working capital. Currently ODEN’s main shareholders are companies related to Russian businessman Alexander Babakov’s VSE group, with about 65% of shares, and the state-controlled National Energy Company (NC ECU) with just over 25%. Alexander Paraschiy: Unless some stake in ODEN is privatized in the near future, the share issue is unlikely to get final approval. Although Babakov’s group’s stake is big enough to ensure initial approval at the Nov. 6 EGM (60% of shares needed for a quorum, 50%+1 to approve a decision), final approval would require support from the NCU ECU (at least 75% of voting shares would be required). As the NC ECU is restricted in its ability to subscribe for new shares, it is highly unlikely to support the proposal.