The Hungarian state MVM would buy a Slovak energy company at a peppery price

A Czech-Slovak company with a 49 per cent stake in Central Slovakia’s Energetika would sell its stake, and MVM, which is 100 per cent Hungarian-owned, among the bidders, seems to be the runner-up, writes Diary E referring to the article on the economic portal Azonnali.hu.

Recently, the Hungarian government’s plans to purchase foreign land have become a scandal in Slovakia, and the Hungarian government has finally withdrew a government decision establishing a Private Land Fund for this purpose. However, Hungary buys not only arable land, but also monumental buildings in Slovakia. However, the sale of a 49 percent stake in a strategically important energy company is a business on a completely different scale than some of its buildings, the article reads.

Central Slovak Energy (SSE) is one of the three large Slovak natural gas and electricity distribution companies – the other two are Western Slovak Energy (ZSE) and Eastern Slovak Energy (VSE). 51 percent of all three companies are owned by the Slovak state;

• 49 percent of ZSE is German E.On,
• 49% of VSE is owned by German RWE,
• and the minority owner of SSE is the Czech-Slovak EPH.

EPH would sell its 49 per cent stake in SSE. There are three interested parties: the German E.On, the Czech ČEZ and the Hungarian MVM.

Denník E estimates that 49 percent of the SSE is worth 900 million euros (324 billion forints). According to the paper, this amount corresponds to the offer made by the Czech ČEZ, to which MVM responded by raising its own offer to EUR 1.2 billion (HUF 432 billion), ie EUR 300 million more than the market price.

According to Denní E, this difference is already so large that it cannot be explained by economic reasons. However, the owners of EPH will only accept MVM’s offer if the Slovak government agrees, unless there are other obstacles to the deal, writes Immediate.

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