Czech FinMin reiterates CEZ to be sold on market

...market, amid reports that it had sought a direct placement.

"It is untrue that the Ministry of Finance changed the sale plan. It had never considered (selling to) 'a secret intermediary' nor it was ever our intention to have, if possible, one buyer," Kalousek said in a statement.

"The Ministry of Finance is fulfilling the government's resolution with the single strategy -- a fair and transparent sale on the capital market with the aim of maximising the proceeds from this sale," he added.

Business daily Hospodarske Noviny reported on Thursday the ministry had dropped the idea of using an intermediary to speed up the stake sale, which could take at least six months to complete if carried out via the stock exchange.

It also quoted an unnamed source as saying the ministry would sell only 5.7 percent of CEZ shares, not 7 percent as originally planned, as the firm's current stock price allows it to hit the government's revenue target by selling fewer shares.

Ministry spokesman Ondrej Jakob declined to comment on the report beyond Kalousek's statement, adding only the government had agreed to sell 7 percent of shares but that it could always change its mind.

The ministry has been under pressure from analysts and the media to reveal more details about the way it would sell the stake, worth about $2.1 billion.

Kalousek has previously said that one of the brokers of the state would be local Erste Bank unit Ceska Sporitelna and it could stop the process at any moment if market conditions ceased to be favourable.

The government holds a 67.6 percent stake in CEZ. The reduction will only narrow its stake temporarily, because CEZ is simultaneously conducting an up to 10 percent share buy-back.

CEZ shares closed at 1,065 crowns on Wednesday, near an all-time high of 1,096 set last week.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]