The power holding company yesterday succeeded in selling two power sales companies. RAO UES of Russia is successfully improving the disastrous situation with sales of shareholdings in power sales companies. The second auction wave which will doubtless remain in the industry reform history as one of the most serious failures of the company's management has been replaced by the third one, so far the most successful: the holding company has surpassed the sales proceeds forecast by 331 million roubles, earning 3.746 billion roubles. Sold yesterday, Perm Power Sales Company and Kirovenergosbyt account for more than 40% of this amount (almost 1.56 billion roubles). OJSC Reliability Centre paid 1.257 million roubles for 49% of Perm PSC shares with a starting price of 876 million roubles, while 48.17% of Kirovenergosbyt shares with a starting price of 300 million roubles went to Centre Region Invest LLC for 302.2 million roubles, according to the holding company's media relations department. Both companies interested investors: price bids were filed by four and three investors, respectively. The buyer of the Perm sales company acts on behalf of regional investors; IES-Holding participated in the tender, but lost, according to an RBC Daily source informed about the auction results. It did win the tender for the other asset though. The interlocutor of the publication also noted that Centre Region Invest purchased Kirovenergosbyt for IES-Holding which "takes interest in power assets within the contour of operations of Territorial Generating Company No 5 (TGC-5)." He added that major investors which had been active during the first wave did not participate in yesterday's tenders. IES-Holding confirmed the acquisition of Kirovenergosbyt to RBC Daily. The company considers this asset strategic. Besides, IES repeatedly announced earlier that the price proposed by RAO UES of Russia for the Perm-based sales company was on the brink of investment cost-efficiency. "The holding company has a sales business of its own in the Perm Territory, and it has a balanced retail package already," explained the company. "IES as a minority shareholder in Perm Sales Company with a blocking interest intends to actively co-operate with the new shareholder and hopes that it has greater investment potential for developing the company." Experts are moderately optimistic in their estimates of RAO UES's success. "It was clear from the beginning that investors will indeed take interest," says Semion Birg of Finam Investment Company. "The Kirov Region accounts for 40% of TGC-5's capacity, and the Perm Territory for 41% of TGC-9's capacity. Both companies are the largest among those TGCs where IES is inclined to become the majority shareholder." In Mr Birg's opinion, the results of the tenders have shown that the company was just prepared to pay an amount close to the starting price of the auction. The buyer of the Perm sales company acted on behalf of Wholesale Generating Company No 4, according to unofficial information. The company is represented in the region by Yaiva State District Power Plant (GRES) with a capacity of 600 MW. However, WGC-4 did not confirm yesterday that the buyer acted on its behalf and noted that Reliability Centre is an independent company. Vasily Konuzin of Alemar Financial and Investment Corporation believes that RAO UES owes the success of the sales to both the new auction form and the high interest of investors in these assets. He does not rule out that the Perm sales company was purchased by a speculator for further resale to IES, WGC-1 or WGC-4 that operate in the region. Mr Birg generally considers the results of the sales positive: "For the sold stocks in the sales companies RAO UES earned 30% more than planned, proceeding from the starting price of the auctions." The expert does not rule out that those strategic investors who used to be sceptical earlier may become more active after this. |
