SPF May Agree To ODEN 's Additional Share Issue

Head of the State Property Fund (SPF) Valentina Semeniuk said that the government may agree to increase the charter fund of Odessaoblenergo (ODEN) by 3.9 times; though, this should be approved by the government. The additional share issue was approved by ODEN’s main shareholder (VS Energy) at the company’s EGM on November 6, 2006. Though, to legalize this issue, approval of at least 75% shareholders is needed. The SPF and National Energy Company (NC ECU), which control 25% of the company, did not agree to approve the additional issuance.  Alexander Paraschiy:   There are two reasons why the state doesn’t want to approve the issuance: first, the NC ECU has no right to trade shares, so it cannot participate in subscription for new shares; second, the state does not want to spend money to subscribe for the new issue but does not want its 25% block to be diluted. The first impediment can be solved by the government which might change the NC ECU’s charter to allow participation in subscription. VS Energy proposed a solution for the second problem: according to a local weekly, VS Energy is ready to provide the state with about USD 5 mln to subscribe to the new share issue.