Poland interested in acquiring coal assets from utilities, minister says

Enea SA

07/05/2024 08:39

WARSAW, May 7 (Reuters) - Polish government is
interested in acquiring coal assets from state-controlled power
utilities, Industry Minister Marzena Czarnecka said on Tuesday,
boosting their share prices.
    "Energy companies want to get rid of coal assets and we are
interested in taking them over, but it must be compatible with
coal supplies from Polish mines," Czarnecka told TVP Info
television.  
    State-controlled utilities have been urging the government
for a fast spin-off of their coal-fired power plants amid their
falling profitability. Their shares fell sharply last month
after Czarnecka, who supervises the coal industry, said that
mines should be tied to utilities. 
    Shares of Poland's top utility PGE  PGE.WA  were up 5.8%,
while Tauron  TPE.WA  traded 6.2% higher as of 0928 Warsaw time.
    Poland's new government has shelved the plan to spin-off
state-owned utilities' coal-fired power plants and bundle them
into a new state-owned company but hasn't announced an
alternative yet
    Fitch Ratings said in March that Polish utilities risk
credit downgrades unless the government comes up with an
alternative to the previous administration's plan to allow them
to spin-off coal assets.

 (Reporting by Marek Strzelecki, Editing by William Maclean)
 ((Marek.Strzelecki@thomsonreuters.com;))