EPS to bid for Montenegrin Electric Power Company – only 5 out of 20 interested companies bought tender dossier

The tender for additional capitalization and sale of 18.3% of Montenegrin Electric Power Company, on which Montenegrin Government pin all its hopes to complement the budget, will be open by the end of April. But, out of 20 initially interested companies, only five have bought the dossier.

The bids for the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG) should be submitted by the Electric Power Company of Serbia, Russian "Inter Rao", Italian "Edison" and A2A, and Norwegian NTE. Big "blow" was the absence of giants like "Statkraft", ČEZ and "Enel".

According to the tender terms, the investor who win on the tender has the possibility to become the majority owner within five years, and if the company wants to take over the majority package of stocks, it must register between 240 and 300m EUR worth of profit at the end of the fifth year of management of EPCG.

The Government can allow the investor to buy additional stocks to acquire majority capital only if it achieves certain number of points, especially if its profit reaches minimum 80% of the anticipated amount of 300m EUR.

The Government of Montenegro expects to earn between 300 and 500m EUR from the sale of part of the Electric Power Company, which would be the lifesaving financial injection in the year when "zero" growth of gross national product is considered a great success.

Those well-informed believe that no more dossiers will be procured prior to expiration of the tender because the deadline for preparation of bids is very short.