Vattenfall withdraws from its investment plans in Poland

The investor is discouraged with the attempts to reduce energy prices. The company does not trust the government any longer while the value of companies it was going to buy for PLN 1bn (EUR 247m) has dropped.

One of the successes of the Ministry of the Treasury was the agreement with Vattenfall to sell the remaining stake of GZE power plants and of Vattenfall Heat Poland.

“We have decided to withdraw from these transactions. The reason is the state policy towards energy prices regulations. The regulator supported by the government aims to force artificial price cut. We don’t trust Poland as we used to. We wouldn’t be surprised if it happened in Venezuela but it’s a shock here”, Torbjorn Wahlborg, Vattenfall Poland CEO said.

He added that the value of companies Vattenfall was going to buy dropped.

“The government cannot be as naïve as to believe that it may regulate energy prices and at the same time get from us prices negotiated in other market conditions”, Torbjorn Wahlborg added.

Two weeks ago, the energy regulator URE said that it won’t approve of energy prices above PLN 155 per MWh while next year’s contracts already amount to PLN 220-230 per MWh.

Vattenfall was supposed to pay over PLN 1bn for both stakes.

“We will wait till the end of the first quarter. Maybe the situation changes”, the CEO added.
Source:www.pb.p