May 10 (SeeNews) - Romanian power supplier and distributor Electrica [BSE:EL] on Wednesday declined to comment on a statement by a government minister who said the company had submitted an offer to purchase assets of Czech power utility CEZ in Bulgaria.
"The company does not comment on such statements," Electrica's head of marketing and press officer, Marius Chican, told SeeNews over the phone without elaborating.
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On Tuesday, Romanian energy minister Toma Petcu said that Electrica [BSE:EL] has placed an offer to purchase CEZ's assets in Bulgaria.
"Electrica has submitted an offer to take over the shares which CEZ has in Bulgaria. This is the company that supplies energy to Sofia and its surroundings, so we have 3 million customers, a fairly large portfolio," Petcu said in a video interview for local news portal DCnews.ro, which was live streamed on Facebook.
"We would very much like to be able to acquire this package of shares and become a regional player," Petcu added.
In Bulgaria, CEZ operates a power distribution company, a retail electricity supplier and a wholesale trader. CEZ also owns a coal power plant with an installed capacity of 1,265 MW near the city of Varna as well as two renewable sources power plants.
A SeeNews e-mail seeking comment from CEZ Group remained unanswered by the time of publication of this article.
Blue-chip company Electrica, in which the Romanian state owns a stake of 48.8%, is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
With approximately 10,000 employees, Electrica is providing services to over 1.6 million customers and is operating at national level organized in three zones for electric power distribution:Transilvania Nord,Transilvania Sud, Muntenia Nord, and all over the country for electric power supply, maintenance and energy services.
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