CEZ considers partnership for completion of nuclear power station

CEZ Energy intends to consider the possibility of a strategic partnership in the completion of the Temelín Nuclear Power Station. It is usual in Europe that nuclear power projects are built and subsequently operated by consortiums of several companies; the French EDF, several times larger than CEZ, is also implementing the Flamanville project in a consortium with Enel. CEZ has received bids from several interested parties and, since a partnership sounds logical, CEZ has decided to select the potential partner in a transparent tender. Given the fact that the selection of a supplier for the completion of Temelín is carried out pursuant to the Public Contract Act and that the information in this public contract is highly confidential, the partnership will probably be formed after the contract with the selected supplier is signed, which is expected to happen in 2013.
CEZ is prepared to fund the project using its own resources and available debt capacities; however, there are many other interesting investment opportunities, which the CEZ Group might reach if a strategic partner joins the consortium. The potential split of the risk of the completion and return of the project into several subjects is also motivating. Most of Europe's nuclear projects (France, Finland, Great Britain) are implemented on the basis of various forms of partnerships for this very reason. "CEZ may also profit from the strategic partnership by acquiring new know-how connected with the building of nuclear power stations," says Daniel Beneš, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of CEZ.
The initial market analyses show that it is possible to invite more than ten energy companies, most of which are based in Europe, which either have already shown interest or may become interested in negotiations about such partnership. The partner will be selected in a transparent selection procedure, whose requirements will be defined in advance.
The preparation of the completion of the Temelín Nuclear Power Station is progressing as scheduled. At present, the tender for the supplier of the completion of Temelín pursuant to the Public Contract Act is well underway. The output from this procedure for the selection of the supplier will be one of the basic criteria influencing the decisions on the form of the potential strategic partnership. Therefore, the process of the selection of a strategic partner will not finish until the winner of the Temelín public contract tender is known.

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