Czech power plants dominated the administration of comfort in Prešov

Near. The Czech Energy Group (CEZ) has strengthened its position in the field of heat supply in Slovakia.

The Slovakian Antitrust Office (PMO) has authorized CEZ ESCO, a subsidiary of ČEZ, to control the producer and supplier of heat, hot water and electricity, Spravbytkomfort, operating in Prešov. CTK informed PMU on Monday.

Last year, the turnover decreased by two percentage points to reach 16.35 million euros, while corporate profits increased by one tenth to 1, 48 million euros.

Spravbytkomfort aj Serviskomfort

At the same time as the company Spravbytkomfort, ČEZ ESCO also controls the company Serviskomfort, which provides Prešov services in the field of maintenance of industrial heating equipment, regular maintenance of apartments and buildings. other works.

Serviskomfort's turnover reached 5.75 million euros last year.

The companies Spravbytkomfort and Serviskomfort belonged to the Austrian group Facilitycomfort, a company in which ČEZ ESCO had already acquired a minority stake in Bytkomfort.

A good bite for the city

The sale of the shares of the company "Spravbytkomfort" was recently handled by the Prešovský zastupiteľstvo.

The deputies want to buy the remaining 55% of the 45% of the city, sold by the Austrian company Facilitycomfort Energie und Gebäudemanagement GmbH.

Read also: Prešov will exercise the right of first refusal on property rights

Under the articles of incorporation, the majority shareholder had to offer the share to be offered first to the other shareholder.

MEPs asked for an offer that the company withdrew at the end of the competition for an amount of 19.9 million EUR.

Deputies approved the use of pre-emption rights and promised Mayor Andreu Turcanova (KDH) to discuss the price of the offer.

The mayor, deputy ministers and staff of the city department's special services met in August with representatives of Facilitycomfort.

According to an informative report on the progress and results of the meeting, which was submitted to the council in late August, the cost of 19.9 million euros for the city was unacceptable.

"On the issue of city representatives, if Facilitycomfort accepts the price of the action determined by the auditor, the representatives of the company confirmed that the only price they accepted was the price resulting from the public tender call, namely 19 900 000. The representatives of Facilitycomfort stated that they would sell the shares to the winner of the call for public offerings , says the informative report.

In Slovakia, the Czechs took another piece

CEZ ESCO is a subsidiary of CEZ, a. s., which is one of the largest generators of electricity in the Central and South-Eastern Europe region, with most production capacity concentrated in the parent company in the Czech Republic.

The company focuses on energy consulting, energy engineering, heat production and distribution, etc.

In Slovakia, this group operates in various energy sectors.

"The service portfolio of the ČEZ Group in the territory of the Slovak Republic has been expanded this year with services related to the production and supply of heat and hot water, the management of housing and the 39, real estate, as well as the maintenance of thermal facilities, "said Adriana Oľšavská, spokesman for Antimonopoly.

Bytkomfort and its subsidiaries operate in the cities of Nové Zámky, Šaľa, Hurbanovo, Komárno and Bratislava.

He also came to Prešov and the anti-monopoly office verified the redemption of the administration.

In view of the activities carried out by the participants in the concentration, "there is a horizontal overlap of activities in the fields of production and supply of heat and heat, water and housing, respectively in the field of maintenance of thermal energy, "said the Office.

However, according to the anti-monopoly office, ČEZ and the acquisition of the managing authority do not act on the same spatially relevant markets.

Concentration is legal

The Office also deals with vertical relations, gas supply to industrial customers (where ČEZ operates) and heat production (both parties to the concentration).

However, the share of ČEZ does not reach the level of the relevant markets and, in the field of heat production and supply, are exploited on the market in the territories of public heating installations, as well as in several groups of activities (eg STEFE, ENFIE, Veolia).

Therefore, the interconnection does not pose any competition concerns in terms of access restrictions or access restrictions for customers.

"After assessing the evidence and the information obtained, the Authority concluded that the proposed merger was in line with competition law as it would not significantly impede effective competition in the relevant market, in particular as a result of the creation or strengthening of a dominant position, "said Osavská.

Korzar.sme.sk is the most important news of eastern Slovakia. All Prešov and Sharisch region reports can be found in Prešov Corsair