VILNIUS - The market continues to pulsate with speculation over who will eventually win the as yet unannounced tender for the country's eastern power grid.
Prospective bidders for Rytu Skirstomieji Tinklai (Eastern Power Grid) include the MG Baltic concern and NDX Energija, the company associated with VP Market, which manages VST, the operator of the western part of the national power grid, the Verslo Zinios business daily reported this week.
Analysts admit that the decision to halt the privatization, which was already approaching its end, turned out beneficial as the company's value had risen more than twofold since that time. In recent months, however, RST's share price has lost steam and is ticking down.
Romanas Raulynaitis, MG Baltic board member, told the daily that the concern was interested in all prospective large-scale privatization transactions and refused any detailed comments.
Zilvinas Marcinkevicius, CEO of NDX Energija, refused to comment on the company's possible participation in RST's privatization, which is expected to take place in the near to mid-term.
A consortium of private investors associated with VP Market reportedly made an attempt to buy RST shares following its victory in the VST tender.
The list of bidders for RST could also include Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas, which owns some 20 percent of RST and admits its intentions to acquire the majority holding in the company. Historically, however, the state has been loathe to sell its prize assets to foreign companies, preferring to keep ownership at home.
Eesti Energia, Estonia's state-owned utility, participated in an earlier tender for RST, only to have its bid 's the only one after E.ON Ruhrgas withdrew its bid 's all but ignored by privatization officials. Latvijas Balzams, the largest alcohol producer in Latvia, had its bid for a Lithuanian distillery rejected on the basis of a lack of transparency.
The state owns 71.35 percent of RST.
In May Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas rejected a proposal by the opposition Liberal and Center Union that the government privatize RST and use the revenues to fill the budget gap. "There were times when the Conservatives did use the privatization proceeds to help plug budget holes. This is incorrect and impermissible," he was quoted as saying.
