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UPDATE 1-Vattenfall seeks equal access to Enea data

Published 09/30/2009, 08:15 AM
Updated 09/30/2009, 08:18 AM

* Vattenfall seeks equal access to Enea information

* Does not expect impact on ongoing sell-off

* Will decide in few days whether to press with charges (Releads, adds Vattenfall, RWE comments)

WARSAW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Swedish energy group Vattenfall wants access to information that its German rival RWE received during due diligence at Poland's Enea, Vattenfall's head of Polish operations said on Wednesday.

Torbjorn Wahlborg told Reuters that Vattenfall, which bought an 18.7 percent stake at Enea last year for $561 million but did not take part in the ongoing sale of a 67 percent stake, will decide in a few days whether to file a complaint with Poland's markets watchdog KNF.

"This is a way to safeguard interests of minority shareholders who are deprived of information that could affect their decision whether to sell their stake," Wahlborg said.

"This is a big investment for our company and we want to protect its value.

RWE has denied any wrongdoing during the due diligence process, and the regulator KNF said should a complaint be filed it would be handled appropriately.

"We are a large international group, publically listed, and we always act in accordance with law and international standards," Iwona Jarzebska, director of marketing and communications at RWE's local unit RWE Polska said.

Wahlborg added that the Swedish state-controlled utility would be satisfied if the regulator would grant it access to the same information at Enea at the same conditions as RWE.

However, Wahlborg expects little impact of the motion on the ongoing sale of the controlling stake at Enea. RWE is the sole bidder for the 67 percent stake that could be worth over $2 billion.

"The damage has already been done and I think it is unlikely to impact the privatisation process. Maybe the Treasury Ministry will be more careful in the future," Wahlborg told Reuters.

Vattenfall, which has often said it sees Poland as a very important market and wants to increase its presence there, surprised markets by not placing a bid for the controlling stake in Enea.

The move raised questions over what will it do with the nearly 19-percent stake at Enea, once a strategic rival buys a controlling stake, but the utility declined to comment on whether it would sell its stake in such a case.

Enea shares gained 0.73 percent at 1023GMT, in line with the general WIG index.

Poland wants to speed-up privatisation in 2009 and 2010, which is seen generating some 35 billion zlotys in revenues, in order to help the country's ailing budget. (Reporting by Patryk Wasilewski; editing by Simon Jessop)

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