Renowned American financial institution J.P. Morgan is one of several companies that are negotiating with the Ministry of Economy on the way of taking over a 41.7% stake in the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG) currently owned by Italian A2A company, CdM learns.
American creditor J.P. Morgan is a financial institution known for providing various financial services, which, among other things, include instruments such as factoring, forfaiting, swaps and futures.
Yesterday, after the session for the Privatisation and Capital Projects Council, the government announced that the Ministry of Economy was considering possible options to accelerate A2A’s withdrawal from the EPCG ownership structure, which would not additionally burden the public finances. The government added that talks with several potential investors, ie financial institutions were ongoing, which indicated the possibility of improving the position of the state and creating a space for attracting new foreign investments in the energy sector.
This means that the government is not currently negotiating with companies that could directly buy shares from A2A, but with credit institutions, with the help of which the best way for redeeming the shares would be found.
In addition, as CdM learns, this means that the state is considering the possibility, with the support of a financial institution, to find a redemption model for A2A shares under more favourable terms than those implied by the put option (paying €250m for them in seven annual instalments). In this way, the state will gradually increase its shares in EPCG over the next seven years from the existing 57.1% to the final 98.8%.
Possible engagement of a financial institution could speed up redeeming A2A’s shares by redefining the method of repayment.
