February 20 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's government does not plan to sell its holdings in power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) [MNG:EPCG] but will consider the company's needs of foreign partners in new energy projects, economy minister Dragica Sekulic said.
"During the term in office of this government, we are not going to look for buyers for EPCG, but we'll think about whether EPCG needs Western European or global partners in order to invest in certain projects," Sekulic said in an interview published in the February issue of the EPCG's monthly magazine.
Sekulic said that the government plans to adopt this year a new energy policy based on which EPCG's ownership and management structure will be determined.
The government controls 88.7% of EPCG, followed by the company itself with 10%, data from the Montenegro Stock Exchange showed on February 20.
The government's stake in the company has risen to its current level from 57.1%, following the activation of a July 2017 put option agreement under which it has pledged to repurchase the shareholding interest of Italy's A2A in EPCG.
Montenegro completed the buyback of A2A's stake in EPCG at the end of last year.
EPCG's shares last traded on the Montenegro Stock Exchange on February 13, closing flat at 3.62 euro ($3.52).
($=0.926275 euro)