15 Oct 2009 12:21

IES not to buy up shares in two gencos from grid co

MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - IES Holding and its partners will not buy up shares in the TGK-6 and TGK-7 generating companies from the Federal Grid Company (FGC) but could receive shares in one of them, probably TGK-7, for an advance payment already made, the Vedomosti newspaper reported.

RAO UES sold the shares in the two gencos to IES Holding in its time for payment by installment, but IES has yet to pay for them.

Vedomosti said, quoting Energy Ministry officials and an employee of one of the buyers that a preliminary agreement on the new arrangement was reached last week.

IES Holding told Interfax that this offer was indeed made to the FGC, but that it had not yet received a response.

The FGC and IES Holding both told Interfax that no final arrangement had been reached and that talks were ongoing.

IES teamed up with Prosperity Capital Management to buy the government's 23.6% of TGK-6 and with Gazprom to buy 32.2% of TGK-7 in the spring of last year. It paid 2 billion rubles in advance and got until October 2009 to pay the balance in installments. It would cost a total of 38.5 billion rubles to buy all shares, including 10.98 billion rubles for the TGK-6 shares and 27.5 billion rubles for the TGK-7 shares.

With the shares still on the FGC's books, IES later paid approximately 5 billion rubles, but it missed payments in December 2008 and April 2009.

Vedomosti said the FGC might waive fines for the missed payments. The latest understandings state that IES might get the advance payment refunded, probably in the form of shares in TGK-7, at the price set down in agreements with RAO UES. IES could increase its stake in TGK-6 by 4.3% and that in TGK-7 by 2.3%.

FGC first deputy chief Sergei Ivanov said at the end of September that the FGC was prepared to take on the government's stakes TGK-6 and TGK-7 from IES. In the future, the FGC would either transfer these stakes to Inter RAO or bring in professional managers, he said.

The funds that IES paid as an advance need to be reclassified as a fine, he said. FGC is prepared to find a resolution to the situation via negotiations, although it is also prepared to take IES to court, he said.

TGK-6 operates in the Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod and Penza regions and in Mordovia. It includes 14 combined heat and power plants, one district state electricity station and three boiler plants. Installed capacity totals 3,100 megawatts of electricity and 10,700 Gcal/hr of heat.

IES Holding is the biggest privately held company in Russia in the electricity and gas distribution area. Its core activity is electricity generation, trading and retail. The holding's strategic assets include TGK-5 , TGK-6 , TGK-7 , TGK-9 and several regional electricity retail companies, as well as GAZEKS, which is engaged in gas distribution and supply in Russia and Ukraine. Combined installed capacity at the IES power companies totals 15,700 megawatts of electricity and 67,800 Gcal/hr of heat.