Five utilities from across Europe are in the running to acquire a majority share of the Bucharest power distributor Electrica Muntenia Sud.
The Romanian government is selling 67.5% of the company under its privatization plan, and five firms have submitted final tenders to acquire the controlling interest. The firms are Spain’s Iberdrola, Germany’s RWE, the Italian group Enel, local heavyweight CEZ of the Czech Republic, and Gaz de France.
In a statement released in March 2006, Electrica said that, taking into account the high competitiveness and the quality of the submitted offers, we expect the transaction for 67.5% of the company to soar past E750 million.
One of the five players, CEZ, is thought to have increased its offer for the stake ahead of the final round, although it declined to say how much it has bid.