Ukraine secures no interest for 25% ODEN stake, has bid for DOON

Ukraine’s State Property Fund reported on Aug. 14 that
its planned tender to sell a 25% stake in power distribution company Odesaoblenergo
(ODEN UK) won’t take place on Aug. 15 as the fund received no bids. At the same
time, one bidder signed up for the tender of a 25% stake in Donetskoblenergo
(DOON UK) scheduled for Aug. 16.

Recall, the fund announced the sale
of the state’s remaining 25% stakes in eight power generation and distribution
companies for Aug. 15-18. Last week, the fund rescheduled tenders for power
GenCo Dniproenergo (DNEN UK) and power DisCo Dniprooblenergo (DNON UK) from
Aug. 17 to Aug. 30.

Alexander Paraschiy: The largest
partner in Odesaoblenergo is VS Energy, whose biggest shareholder – Russian MP
Aleksandr Babakov – has been included in EU and U.S. sanctions lists for his
involvement in Crimea. But given that he is not on Ukraine’s sanctions list, it
looks surprising that he expressed no interest in the tender.

Donetskoblenergo’s main shareholder is DTEK Energy
(DTEKUA), with a stake of more than 71%. The holding is clearly the main and
possibly only candidate to purchase the remaining state stake. Given that the
starting price of the Donetskoblenergo stake is rather low (about USD 5.5 mln),
we see a high chance that DTEK will buy it.