Power project under way

Energy producer and distributor Enea will debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in mid-October, the Treasury Ministry has confirmed. This will mark the start of the firm's privatization process and the first step towards its full privatization, due by the end of 2009, Deputy Treasury Minister Jan Bury told the Sejm on September 5.

The issue prospectus was submitted to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) on September 4, Enea president Paweł Mortas was quoted by Gazeta Prawna as saying. The offer will target individual domestic investors and both Polish and foreign institutional investors, Mortas said.

Enea's share capital will be raised by 30 percent and part of the funds raised from the issue will support the modernization of production facilities and construction of two 1,000-MW generators at an electrical power station in Kozienice. Money will also be earmarked for the modernization and expansion of the distribution network, acquisition of new companies and investment in renewable energy sources, according to Mortas.

Enea will be the first of four state-owned energy groups to be privatized under the energy-sector privatization program adopted by the Council of Ministers in March.

The energy groups - PGE, Tauron Polska Energia, Energa and Enea - are to be privatized in stages via the WSE between 2008 and 2011. The privatization plans could see strategic investors entering the groups, according to the Ministry of Treasury.

Polish Energy Group (PGE) will be the second group to enter the WSE - its debut is scheduled for Q1 2009. PGE will raise its share capital by 10-20 percent, according to Deputy Treasury Minister Bury.

Shares in the third group, Tauron, will go public in H2 of 2009, while the privatization of Energa is as yet unscheduled, but expected sometime in the 2009-2011 period.