The Slovak government wants to create a state-owned holding and buy the majority stake in the country’s dominant power producer Slovenské elektrárne (SE) from Italy’s Enel. Slovak Economic Minister Pavol Pavlis explained that the state could take out a loan through the holding to finance the transaction instead of drawing funds from the tight national budget. Enel is looking to offload its 66-percent share in SE. The sale is part of Enel’s effort to lower its debts by offloading assets worth a total of €4.4bn.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the government is prepared to take over SE, ČTK reports. The Slovak state already controls a 34-percent stake in the power producer. If the takeover goes through, the state would then finance the extension of Mochovce power plant and modernize the country’s thermal power plants.
