REUTERS
The preparation for the sale took four years.
Energy expert, head of the Association of Consumers of Energy and Public Utilities, Andriy Gerus, has said that the State Property Fund of Ukraine canceled the privatization tender of Public Joint-Stock Company Centrenergo, which was scheduled for December 13.
"The State Property Fund has canceled the privatization tender on Centrenergo. Four years of preparation for privatization can be considered over. Yes, and it was naive to believe that imitation of reforms can produce results such as if real reforms are taking place. Therefore, this period of 'reforms,' like the previous one, in terms of privatization, will be remembered for the sale of stakes in energy companies to Mr. Akhmetov. Our leaders were incapable of anything more ambitious," he wrote on Facebook.
Read alsoLarge-scale privatization in Ukraine postponed for 2019
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's Cabinet on May 10 endorsed a list of companies for large-scale privatization in 2018.
Centrenergo was supposed to become the first enterprise among the said companies to be sold this year.
Ernst&Young, which was selected as an adviser on the sale of Centrenergo, had assessed a state-owned 73.8% stake in the company at UAH 5.985 billion (US$225.48 million).
In October this year, the State Property Fund of Ukraine said bidding contests for almost all objects of large-scale privatization would be held in 2019 instead of this year, as was announced earlier.
UNIAN memo. PJSC Centrenergo is one of Ukraine's leading electricity generating companies. The state owns 78.289% of the company's shares. Centrenergo consists of three thermal power plants – Vuhlehirska, Zmiivska, and Trypilska. Their combined installed capacity is 7.665 GW, which is 14% of Ukraine's overall power generation capacity. Centrenergo supplies electricity to Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions.