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The Regions This Week
March 31, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Central Europe
CEZ sold its 7.5% stake in Hungarian oil and gas group MOL via a bookbuilding process at HUF18,700 a share, raising around HUF143.1bn (€462mn). The money will be used to fund
CEZ's €470.2mn buyback of bonds convertible to MOL stock. The transactions should boost pre- tax profit in 2017 by around CZK3.4bn (€126mn).
Slovak financial group Penta said it plans to tender for the remaining shares in Czech-based betting firm Fortuna, and then delist the company. Penta, which holds 68.25%, will offer to buy out the free float at CZK100, below the current market price.
Struggling Italian lender UniCredit is in talks with two local suitors over the sale of its Czech/ Slovak business, local media reported. UniCredit reportedly opened preliminary talks with potential buyers that include Komercni banka and Moneta Money Bank. Analysts suggested the fourth larg- est Czech bank could be worth CZK90bn (€3.3bn), making any deal the biggest ever transaction in the Czech banking sector.
South Korean carmaker Kia Motors agreed to make a record hike in basic salaries at its Slovak assembly plant in order to avert industrial action. The average salary at Kia’s factory near Zilina will rise by 7.5% as of April 1.
The Slovak government agreed to raise the budget for the expansion of the Mochovce nu- clear power plant being built and funded by Enel of Italy, which is in the process of exiting power utility Slovenske Elektrarne. Late and vastly over budget, the addition of two new units to the plant is now set to cost €5.4bn, rather than the original forecast of €2.87bn.
Slovak economic confidence fell for the first time four months in March, data released by the European Commission showed. The fall in Slovak confidence – by a full 5 points to 101.6 – was am- plified by a surge to record highs in the first two months of the year.
Poland’s economic sentiment indicator (ESI) gained 0.3 point to 102.7 in March, data released by the European Commission showed. However small the increase, the March reading sees the index at its second highest point over the last 12 months.
The Polish state-owned gas grid operator Gaz- System said it has selected a contractor to carry out a feasibility study on the construction of a second Polish LNG terminal. Poland has stepped up efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, with the government accusing Moscow of using its role as a key supplier to CEE to increase its political leverage in the region.
State-controlled Polish utility Energa posted net profit of PLN147mn (€34.8mn) in 2016. The result is several times smaller than the PLN840mn booked in 2015, owing mainly to impairments
on power generation assets to the tune of PL- N573mn.
Polish property investment company Griffin Premium RE set the price for its IPO at PLN5.7 (€1.35) per share, at the bottom of the initial range of PLN5.7-PLN6.5. The potential value of the float in April on the Warsaw Stock Exchange is now estimated at PLN508mn.
Central European University (CEU) claimed it is threatened with closure under an education law amendment announced by the Hungarian gov- ernment. CEU, founded by US financier George Soros, is frequently ranked the best university
in the CEE region, but it is also a significant target in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s assault on Hungary's liberal institutions. The proposed amendment forbids Hungarian universities from delivering programmes or issuing degrees from non-European universities. CEU is accredited to offer qualifications from the US.