Albania Extends Bidding Deadline for OSSH Power Distributor Until Sept. 29

Albania’s Economy Ministry said on Friday it is extending for two more weeks the time for submitting bids for a majority stake in the distribution unit, OSSH, of the country’s power utility KESH.
In June, Albania accepted Italy’s Enel, Austria’s EVN, Czech CEZ and Austria’s Energy Steiermark to the tender for the sale of a stake between 51% and 76% in OSSH, which is the first KESH unit offered to private investors.
The September 15 bidding deadline was extended until September 29 as pre-qualified bidders said they need time to modify their offers, the ministry said in a statement.
The government, in cooperation with its consultant, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private sector arm, has made some changes in tender documents to make the sale more attractive to pre-qualified investors, it added.
The IFC has been advising Albania’s Economy Ministry on the unbundling of KESH’s distribution business assets from the company’s transmission and generation activities and the tender process since January 2007.
Besides KESH, on the government’s privatization agenda are oil researcher, developer and producer, Albpetrol, insurance company INSIG and motor fuel dealer Petrolimpex.