NC ECU Head expects USD 1-1.5 bln from privatizing four GenCos

Volodymyr Zinevich, president of the National Energy Company of Ukraine (NC ECU), told Delo newspaper in an interview yesterday that he expects USD 1-1.5 bln from the sale of controlling stakes in Dniproenergo (DNEN: BUY), Donbasenergo (DOEN: BUY), Zakhidenergo (ZAEN: BUY) and Centrenergo (CEEN: BUY), all of which are on the government’s privatization list for this year. In addition to this amount, Zinevich said investors will be obliged to invest USD 3 bln to USD 4 bln into each company over the next decade. Zinevich said investors from Finland, Germany, England, Italy and Russia, as well as Ukrainian DTEK have already stated an interest in the privatizations. Alexander Paraschiy: At the moment, it is not clear whether privatization of generation companies will take place in 2008 due to ongoing political uncertainty. We believe the candidates listed by Zinevich as strategic investors are companies with experience in privatizing Russian generators: Finnish Fortum, German E.ON and RWE, Italian Enel, and Russian Gazprom, IES and SUEK.