Finance minister wants EPS to go public

Finance Minister Mirko Cvetkovic wants the public power corporation, EPS, to be floated on the stock market. Cvetkovic did not specify exactly what percentage of the Serbian electric company was in question, though he said that Economy and Regional Development Minister Mladjan Dinkic endorsed the idea in principle. Finance minister wants EPS to go public “I feel it’s very important for shares of our public enterprises to be made available to the public, as such a move would give the stock market a significant boost. I think that’s very positive and that we could float NIS (the Serbian oil company), EPS, insurance companies, and other companies with strong foundations,“ the finance minister said. Dinkic announced that the government would be proposing two models, according to which between 10 and 30 percent of EPS shares would be offered, in order to raise part of the EUR 1.5bn required to complete construction of both the Kolubara B thermo-power station and also a new block at the Nikola Tesla power station. One model envisages between 10 and 15 percent of the company’s shares going on sale, although given that the amount raised would not cover the costs of the necessary construction, EPS would have to take out an additional bank loan. The second model would involve floating 30 percent of the company's shares, thus, in effect, completing EPS’ capitalization, though the economy minister plans to distribute half of these shares free of charge among citizens. There is also a third, less likely alternative, whereby EPS would enter into a strategic partnership with another big energy provider. According to him, the idea behind floating EPS on the stock market is to raise money to finish the job as soon as possible, since urgent investment is at stake here that would allow Serbia to smoothly distribute electrical energy, and more importantly, reduce dependency on energy imports from abroad. Mining and Energy Minister Aleksandar Popovic said yesterday that he supported the government’s proposal to find a strategic partner for completion of the power station, though he added that he was prepared to discuss all possibilities. Mirko Cvetkovic (FoNet, archive)

Finance minister wants EPS to go public

“I feel it’s very important for shares of our public enterprises to be made available to the public, as such a move would give the stock market a significant boost. I think that’s very positive and that we could float NIS (the Serbian oil company), EPS, insurance companies, and other companies with strong foundations,“ the finance minister said.

Dinkić announced that the government would be proposing two models, according to which between 10 and 30 percent of EPS shares would be offered, in order to raise part of the EUR 1.5bn required to complete construction of both the Kolubara B thermo-power station and also a new block at the Nikola Tesla power station.

One model envisages between 10 and 15 percent of the company’s shares going on sale, although given that the amount raised would not cover the costs of the necessary construction, EPS would have to take out an additional bank loan.

The second model would involve floating 30 percent of the company's shares, thus, in effect, completing EPS’ capitalization, though the economy minister plans to distribute half of these shares free of charge among citizens. There is also a third, less likely alternative, whereby EPS would enter into a strategic partnership with another big energy provider.

According to him, the idea behind floating EPS on the stock market is to raise money to finish the job as soon as possible, since urgent investment is at stake here that would allow Serbia to smoothly distribute electrical energy, and more importantly, reduce dependency on energy imports from abroad.

Mining and Energy Minister Aleksandar Popović said yesterday that he supported the government’s proposal to find a strategic partner for completion of the power station, though he added that he was prepared to discuss all possibilities.