State Offers Shares In Power Industry

Hungary is set to privatize its electricity industry, the first former Soviet bloc nation to do so.

The government is planning to sell shares in six electric supply companies, seven power companies and the Hungarian Electrical Works Co. Ltd.

The offering is expected to be announced Monday, the nation’s official news agency, MTI, reported Saturday.

The agency said investors, foreign as well as domestic, eventually will have the chance to become majority shareholders in the power and electric supply companies.

However the first round of privatization will be limited to an average 47.6 percent of shares in the electric supply companies and between 34 percent and 49 percent of shares in the power companies.