Prishtina, 08 June 2012 – The Government Privatization Committee (GPC) has announced the consortium Limak Yatirim Enerji & Çalik Enerji Sanayi the preferred bidder for the privatization of Kosovo Electricity Distribution and Supply (KEDS) privatization, being the highest bidder o the process.

The GPC proposal came after the Bid Evaluation Committee for the KEDS Privatization concluded that Limak & Calik had bid at 26.3 million euro, while Elsewedy Electricy S.A.E. bid 22.8 million.

The Minister of Economic Development (MED), Besim Beqaj, said that the only criterion in this bid evaluation was the financial criterion, while assessing that the entire process was conducted in full harmony with the applicable legislation, highest international standards and in an entirely transparent manner.

Beqaj said that this process is rather successful, taking into consideration the global crisis and economic recession in the Eurozone countries, which have influenced the diminishment of companies’ interest for investing in the region.

The Minister said that there is maximum commitment for avoiding the deficiencies and bad experiences from the countries of the region in Kosovo, while underlining that the Government of Kosovo will not subsidize losses and burden the state budget and final consumers.

Head of MED thanked representatives of KOSTT, KEK, ERO and the Energy Technical Group for their contribute to the compilation of documents and successful closure of the process; to USAID for the support given in the implementation of the project and to KfW, World Bank, European Commission for their invaluable contribution.

Further, the representative of IFC (transaction advisors in the process) Bernard Atlan provided a short summary of the transaction, assessing that the entire process adhered to the envisaged dynamics and rules.

Roxane Suratgar, USAID representative and observer in this project, added that she is certain that Government of Kosovo has managed the entire KEDS privatization process in the most transparent and professional manner, and in compliance with the highest standards, hence she entirely supports the GPC’s decision.

Further, Joe Oliver, senior financial advisor in Deloitte, also an observer in this process, said that the Government has undertaken all steps necessary to ensure transparency and unhindered access to information throughout the privatization process, by including all parties of interest and experts in reviewing all relevant documents and by providing equal access for all prequalified companies throughout the process.

For his part, the representative of Limak & Calik consortium, Ismail Ergunes, assessed this process to be extremely transparent and fair, while adding that his company is well acquainted with the problems in Kosovo’s distribution network.

He said that in the event this project is awarded to them, the company will advance the distribution network and will improve quality of service, while underscoring that the price is not the most important thing. Rather the most important things are quality services and security of supply of electricity, which require significant investments in the network.

Otherwise, the proposal of the Government Privatization Committee should be adopted by the Government, in order for the Limak & Calik consortium to be officially appointed the winning bidder of KEDS privatization.