(Repeats story published late on Tuesday)
* CEZ sees little scope for large acquisitions
* Deals in renewable energy most imminent
* Plans investments in renewables of billions of crowns
By Jan Korselt
PRAGUE, Sep 1 (Reuters) - Czech power group CEZ <>
is eyeing smaller renewable energy projects in central and
eastern Europe to make up for a lack of large-scale acquisition
opportunities, CEZ's head of acquisitions Vladimir Schmalz said.
Schmalz told Reuters that due to the economic crisis, which
has tightened access to financing, CEZ is now more cautious
about acquisitions and has put on hold expansion plans in
regions like Russia, Kazakhstan and Vietnam as well as what it
sees as riskier Balkan countries like Montenegro and Bosnia.
The firm, which carries a low debt load, said last year it
would look at expansion opportunities beyond its core region due
to a lack of takeover targets in its traditional markets.
"The situation forces us to evaluate the rate of return, and
competition of individual projects, and choose those with the
best capacity and parameters," Schmalz said in an interview.
CEZ will also focus on its core market in central and
south-eastern Europe, namely the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Germany and Turkey,
he said.
"We do not want to invest in Kazachstan, Russia and
countries that are hit very hard by the financial turbulence,"
Schmalz said on Tuesday.
CEZ is also in negotiations to take part in several
renewable energy projects and is looking to invest billions of
crowns in solar energy, wind power plants and biomass in
addition to investment in 1.1 billion euro ($1.58 billion) wind
parks on the Romanian coast.
The economic crisis left many renewable energy projects in
the region lacking funding, Schmalz said, which gives cash-rich
CEZ a chance to pick and choose the most attractive ones.
"The large-scale energy segment has not changed so much from
last year. What has changed is rather the small one. I really
think there is an interesting period ahead of us in renewable
sources, where some announcements could come pretty soon," he
said.
"There clearly was a whole range of projects that would have
been before the financial crisis financed by private equity or
smaller private investors. But those projects today exist in
reality, and the portfolio has opened."
Another issue for CEZ is its high exposure to coal power
generation, something that is also pushing the company to expand
its nuclear capacity as it tries to cut carbon emissions to meet
EU guidelines that will become stricter in coming years.
CEZ, which has a market capitalization of $28.6 billion and
is the largest central-European listed firm, has an agreement
with bordering Slovakia to enlarge the Jaslovske Bohunice
nuclear plant.
At home, it has started preparations to build two new blocks
at its Temelin atomic power plant in the southern Czech Republic
and is considering extending the life of a second nuclear
facility in Dukovany.
Last month, CEZ launched a tender for two nuclear reactors
units for Temelin plant, including an option to order up to
three more nuclear power units in other parts of Europe. Schmalz
declined to say where the other three reactors should be based.
The company could also increase its stake in Romania's
nuclear power plant construction project in Cernavoda to around
15 percent from 9.15 percent currently, as Romania backs away
from its plan to retain a 51 percent share, due to a lack of
finance, Schmalz said.
(Reporting by Jan Korselt, Editing by Michael Kahn and David
Cowell)
