Business-Invest asks court to declare sale of state stake in Zakhidenergo invalid

Business-Invest (Dnipropetrovsk) on January 12, 2014 filed a claim with the business court of Kyiv asking that it declare the sale of a 45.1% stake in the electricity generating company Zakhidenergo, to Rinat Akhmetov's DTEK at a privatization tender in 2011, as illegal, the investment company has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"The claim was filed yesterday. The arguments are the following: at the so-called tender, there was no competition. The conditions of the tender were presented so that DTEK could be the only bidder. The company which won the tender was known in advance. No independent stock market player was able to take part in it," Business-Invest said.

The company said that the first hearing has not yet been scheduled.

As reported, the only bidder in the tender to sell a 45.103% stake in Zakhidenergo, which was held on November 25, 2011, was DTEK, which offered UAH 1.932 billion for the stake (UAH 100,000 more than the starting price).

DTEK now owns 72.2% of Zakhidenergo; a blocking stake is in state ownership.

DTEK Zakhidenergo operates 23 power units at the Burshtyn, Ladyzhyn and Dobrotvirska thermal power plants, which have a total installed capacity of 4,628.5 megawatts.