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CEZ Hungary News CEZ Group Today CEZ Group has opened officially sales agency in Slovakia

2006. 2. 8.

Today CEZ Group has opened officially sales agency in Slovakia

CEZ Group has today officially opened its sales agency in Bratislava to support its activities in Slovakia. The Slovak agency will extend the trade network of CEZ Group, which, next to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, covers also Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. In the close future CEZ Group is going to open its sales agencies in Hungary and Austria as well.

CEZ has clearly declared its vision of becoming number one on the electricity market in Central and South-Eastern Europe, however, the expansion is not being carried out only through acquisitions of new companies, but also through opening new businesses. Already during the privatization process of Slovenske elektrarne (SE), we declared that we would continue to strengthen our presence on the Slovak market regardless of the result of the SE privatization. I believe that today opened sales agency of CEZ Group will significantly widen the electricity offer for traders, sellers and end customers on the Slovak market, said at the opening of the agency Martin Roman, Chairman of the Board and CEO of CEZ. Already now we are the largest foreign electricity supplier to the Slovak market. This day represents an impulse for another strengthening of our presence on the Slovak market. At the end of this year SE is going to reduce its production and electricity traders will look for an alternative supplier. We believe that CEZ will become an interesting business partner for them.  Together with electricity trading, our agency is opened for seeking and developing investment and acquisition opportunities in Slovakia. Further, we are ready to offer our know-how and infrastructure in the area of CO2 allowances trading. We would like to help develop the market for end customers, which is opening now, added Alan Svoboda, Vice-Chairman of the Board and Director of the trade division of CEZ Group, under which foreign sales agency come.

Karol Balog, who has worked as a specialist on the Slovak power market for many years, has been appointed the director of the sales agency. His team and he are developing business relations of the Group on the Slovak market already today.

CEZ Group has owned a part of the Bulgarian and Romanian distribution since last year and continues to seek acquisition opportunities in the area of Central and South-Eastern Europe. The Group and the American syndicate PSEG have concluded an agreement about acquisition of the majority shares in the Polish power companies Elcho and Skawina. 

At present CEZ is participating in privatization tenders, for example, in Romania, Macedonia, Poland or just in Slovakia, where CEZ has entered and qualified for the privatization tender for Teplaren Kosice, a. s. and continues to seek other acquisition opportunities within the fulfilment of its vision of becoming number one on electricity market in Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Currently CEZ Power Company ranks among the ten largest European power companies and according to the market capitalization, which exceeded 20bn USD in the middle of January, it is the largest company of the new ten EU members. CEZ Group is the most profitable and also less indebted power company, which is also represented by the credit rating BBB+ with a positive outlook by Standard & Poor's at A2 and a neutral outlook by Moody's. CEZ was the first company in the former eastern bloc to be awarded with rating. 

CEZ Group´s steady growth is due to its production in a balanced resources portfolio; installed production capacity of CEZ exceeds 12,000 MW. At present CEZ Group operates 2 nuclear power plants, 11 coal-fired, 35 hydro-power plants and one photovoltaic plant. At the same time it operates two sites with wind-power plants.

CEZ is the largest producer of power from renewable resources in the Czech Republic. Moreover, CEZ Group offers to all customers so called Greed Energy. The product Green energy has been available to all households, enterprises or institutions that are or will become CEZ Group´s clients since the beginning of this year. Green energy is understood to mean electricity produced from renewable power sources, such as water, biomass, wind or the sun in the Czech conditions. The electricity offered as Green energy is produced mainly in renewable sources of CEZ Group. The purpose of introducing Green energy is to motivate customers to an ecological approach and support of renewable power sources utilization.

Eva Novakova, Press Officer, CEZ, a.s.

Attachment: CV Karol Balog

Ing. Karol Balog, PhD.

Karol Balog  (55) graduated form the Technical University Kosice, where he later obtained the academic title PhD. in the area of industry reorganization.

After completing his university studies, he worked for the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1982 he was sent to a uniform mission with the UN in New York. Then he worked in the UN secretariat in the Office for Human Resources and Management for 5 year.

After his return he started his own enterprise in foreign trade and power industry. In 1995 he returned to public administration for a short time and helped to develop the new Slovak Ministry for Construction and Public Services, where he worked as the foreign relations director. In 1996-1997 he worked as the general director and a vice-chairman of the board of directors of Perex, a.s. (daily Pravda) publishing company.

From 1998 to 2003 Karol Balog was the director and a vice-chairman of the board of the Agency for Industrial Development and Revitalization, which operated in the area of reorganization of manufacturing plants in Slovakia funded by the European fund Phare. In 2003 and 2004 he worked in the position of the general director and chairman of the board of EdF power group in Stredoslovenska energetika Zilina and in Elektroenergeticke montaze Zilina. At the end of 2005 he accepted CEZ Group´s offer and on November 1 he was appointed the general director of CEZ Slovakia. Karol Balog is married, he has two children.