New appraisal confirms value of CEZ stake in Slovak firm JESS

Bratislava/Prague, Sept 15 (CTK correspondent) - A new appraisal has confirmed the previous valuation of the Czech CEZ group's stake in Slovak nuclear energy company JESS, which is preparing to build a new nuclear power plant in Slovakia, Slovak media report, citing state-run company JAVYS.

CEZ has also confirmed the information in a press release. JAVYS holds a 51 percent stake in JESS.

The Slovak government intends to take control of JESS. According to an expert appraisal previously prepared by the audit firm EY, the market value of CEZ's 49 percent stake in JESS is EUR189.4m (CZK4.6bn). This valuation has now been confirmed by an expert opinion from KPMG.

JESS shareholders agreed in August to have the EY report reviewed. They did so following a dispute between Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and the Economy Ministry regarding the price the state is to pay for CEZ's stake. CEZ said that it agrees with both the findings of the EY valuation and the KPMG review.

Slovakia and CEZ set up JESS during Fico's first term in office in 2009. However, Fico's current cabinet has decided that the new power station will be state-owned, and that the state will therefore buy CEZ's 49 percent stake in JESS. The Economy Ministry was supposed to carry out this step, but failed to do so even by the extended deadline, which expired in July this year. The ministry then said that the completion of the transaction is being held up mainly by differing views on the price of CEZ's stake.

According to earlier reports, US company Westinghouse is to become Slovakia's main partner in the project to build a new state-owned nuclear power station. In building the new power station, with a capacity of around 1,200 megawatts (MW), the state intends to utilise the existing infrastructure at Jaslovske Bohunice, where Slovakia decommissioned two units of the older V1 nuclear power station in 2006 and 2008 due to its commitments to the EU. Slovakia's largest electricity producer Slovenske elektrarne (SE), part of the Energeticky a prumyslovy holding (EPH) group, operates its own nuclear power station at this site.

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