SOCHI, September 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Unified Energy System (UES) said Friday it plans to raise 350 billion rubles ($13.9 bln) by selling state-held packages of wholesale generating and territorial generating companies (OGKs & TGKs).
Speaking during an international investment forum in the southern resort of Sochi, the managing director of UES [RTS: EESR], Alexander Chikunov, said 500 billion rubles ($19.9 billion) is also expected to be raised from the sale of an additional share issue by July 2008.
UES financial director Sergei Dubinin had said in spring that additional share issue revenues would total 422 billion rubles ($16.8 billion), his forecast repeating UES board chairman Anatoly Chubais's earlier forecast.
Chikunov also said UES and Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] would sign contracts on gas supply for power plants.
"I think OGKs and TGKs will sign with Gazprom long-term contracts for gas deliveries to power plants. UES has approved a contract and submitted it for signing to affiliates [generating companies]," he said.
Gazprom said in a press release it would apply for the purchase of OGK-2 shares in order to obtain a minimum of 50% of the company's authorized capital after an additional share issue.
UES said September 4 it had concluded the first stage of the national power sector's reorganization.
UES said it had received documents from the Federal Tax Service on the registration of OGK-5 Holding and TGK-5 Holding, established to separate wholesale generating company OGK-5 and territorial generating company TGK-5 from the monopoly, putting an end to the first stage of reforms.
Russia's power sector is undergoing radical changes aimed at increasing the efficiency of power plants and developing the industry by attracting investment.
Once the reforms are complete, the potentially competitive sectors of the industry - generation, sales and repair companies - will become mainly private and will compete with one another. However, natural monopolies - power transmission and dispatching - will remain state-controlled.
During the second stage, expected to last until mid-summer of 2008, the parent company UES will be divided, and its shareholders will receive the shares of core electricity entities (wholesale generating, territorial generating and federal grid companies) under UES current control, proportionate to their holdings in the monopoly's charter capital.
