RPT-Czechs pick Erste unit as broker for CEZ sale - TV

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The Czech government picked the Czech unit of Austria's Erste Bank on Monday as its broker for the planned sale of a 7 percent stake in power generator CEZ , Czech Television reported.

The public station quoted Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek as saying Erste's unit Ceska Sporitelna would act as one of the brokers selling the state's shares in CEZ, central Europe's largest company. But it said Kalousek refused to say who the other brokers were and when the government planned to launch the sale.

A government spokesman declined to comment on the report.

The European Union member country's government has approved a plan to sell the stake on the stock market but the Finance Ministry, which is conducting the process, is withholding any information about the way it will be handled. The government is looking to raise money to fund road building through the sale of the minority stake.

The state now holds 68 percent of the company with a market capitalisation of $30.5 billion.

CEZ has started an up to 10 percent share buyback programme, which means that the government's stake would not shrink after the sale of its stake.

CEZ closed 1.3 percent lower at 1,063 crowns on Monday, near its all-time high of 1,095 seen last week.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]