REFILE-Czechs to weigh CEZ share buyback -finmin in paper

(Restores dropped word 'one' in fifth paragraph)

PRAGUE, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The Czech government will consider allowing state-controlled power utility CEZ <CEZPsp.PR> to buy back shares in the company from the state as part of its plan to aid the deficit-ridden state budget, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Finance Minister Vlastimil Tlusty was quoted by the leading business daily Hospodarske Noviny as saying the sale of CEZ shares back to the cash-rich utility could help win opposition support for the government's plan of a partial CEZ share sell-off.

"We still prefer finding a partner for CEZ or floating the shares on the bourse (as a way of selling part of the state-held shares), but the discussion in the government will also be about CEZ itself buying the shares," Tlusty was quoted as saying.

The government should discuss his proposal on Nov. 10, the daily reported.

The state holds 68 percent of what is one of the country's most profitable companies, and the government says it needs to sell CEZ shares worth up to 31 billion crowns ($1.4 billion) to pay for road construction without boosting the budget deficit.

In response to the government plan, CEZ said in late September it was considering a share buyback of up to 10 percent of its stock to invest excess cash and revamp its capital structure. ((Reporting by Marek Petrus, editing by Quentin Bryar; Reuters Messaging: rm://marek.petrus.reuters.com@reuters.net; e-mail: prague.newsroom@reuters.com or marek.petrus@reuters.com; Tel: +420 224 190 477)) ($1=22.21 Czech Crown)

Keywords: UTILITIES CZECH CEZ