The Cabinet of Ministers adopted Order No. 1089-r dated November 07.11.2014, 2014, according to which state-owned shares in the energy generating company Centrenergo are put up for sale. The plan is to sell 78,289% of Centrenergo shares, 68,289% of which will be sold by March 31, 2015, at an open privatization tender, and the remaining 10% at stock exchange auctions, from November 20, 3, to January 31, 2015. Centrenergo includes three thermal power plants: Vuhlehirska (located in the Donbas), Zmievska (in the Kharkiv region), and Trypilska (in the Kyiv region). In total, Centrenergo accounts for approximately 8% of all energy generated in Ukraine.
Currently, Centrenergo shares are listed on the Ukrainian Stock Exchange at UAH 7,2 per share. The company's total market capitalization is UAH 2,6 billion, or approximately $170 million. Before the Maidan, Centrenergo's total market capitalization was approximately $850 million. Now is the worst time to sell Centrenergo shares. Demand for the shares is very low, hence the low price. Therefore, the sale of the state-owned stake in Centrenergo now can only be seen as a desire to hand the company over to "an insider" at a very low price. Foreign investors from the EU or the US will not even consider offers to purchase Centrenergo shares now. It's worth remembering that the Vuhlehirska TPP is located in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone, where military action is being conducted by Russia, and this will be a very negative factor for European investors. Furthermore, these TPPs operate on coal mined in eastern Ukraine, which also makes securing the plant's raw materials problematic. So, expecting European or American buyers of Centrenergo shares is pointless. However, Russian capital may be interested in acquiring Centrenergo. It would indeed be profitable for them, given that, at worst, they could supply coal from Kuzbass. Projects to supply coal from Africa to Ukraine have ended in complete fiasco. And today, despite all the anti-Russian rhetoric, Centrenergo is already buying coal from Russia.
But then the question arises: either the current government has already reached an agreement with Putin and is therefore rushing to sell Centrenergo to Russian companies as quickly as possible at a very low price, or there are our businessmen who have contacts in Russia or the occupied territory of Ukraine and would also benefit from taking over Centrenergo. It seems likely that the accelerated privatization of Centrenergo may be an informal agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian authorities to pay off their debts at the expense of Ukrainian territory.
Alexander Okhrimenko, Gazeta.ua
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