The Ostrava power plant supplying electricity and heat to the Liberty smelter is for sale

Relations between the energy company Tameh Czech and the Liberty Ostrava smelters, to which Tameh supplies electricity, heat and technical gases, have been at freezing point for at least half a year. Tameh has gone bankrupt due to the financial crisis at Liberty and is proposing a reorganization. As part of this insolvency process, one of the possible solutions is the sale of Tameh or its two billion debt to Liberty, or both.

The editors of SZ Byznys have at their disposal a written offer for the sale of Tameh, with which the consulting company KPMG, which represents Tameh, addressed potential interested parties. Tameh confirmed the preparation of the sale.

“It is a fact that one of the possible variants of the procedure in the reorganization of Tameh Czech is a sale in a tender procedure. However, it is not the only option, an agreement with Liberty Ostrava is still theoretically possible,” said Tameh’s media representative Patrik Schober.

“In preparation for the sale-based option, a document seeking preliminary interest in participating in such a transaction has been distributed,” the Tamehu spokesperson added.

“We want to reach out to local and international investors. Those who are interested in distressed assets as well as those in the energy sector,” said Igor Mesenský, a KPMG partner responsible for mergers and acquisitions, who manages the sales process.

According to the newsroom, among the approached interested parties is, for example, the Uced energy group of billionaire Pavel Hubáček. It is one of the most important suppliers of energy for industry in the Moravian-Silesian Region.

“We are currently analyzing this possibility. In the region of North Moravia, the UCED group has been active for a long time and is interested in further strengthening its position,” said Daniel Mareš, spokesperson for UCED.

Tameh Czech is based and produces energy directly in the Liberty campus in Ostrava-Kunčice. Originally, the energy operation was an integral part of the steel plant also known under the historical name Nová Huť. Ten years ago, however, the energy sector was separated into a separate company.

Tameh Czech is now part of the Tameh group based in Poland. The holding is half controlled by the Tauron group controlled by the Polish state. The other half of Tameh belongs to the steel concern ArcelorMittal, which also controlled Ostrava’s Liberty until 2018.

Despite the different owners, Tameh and Liberty’s business is still closely linked. So much so that after the outbreak of financial problems at Liberty, Tameh Czech also went into secondary insolvency at the end of last year. In mid-December, the company filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy is proposed to be resolved by reorganization.

At the same time, Tmaeh stopped supplying energy to Liberty. As with the Liberty employees, over 300 Tameh workers have since been home with full back wages.

Relations between Tameh and Liberty have been at a standstill since the last quarter of last year at the latest. Tameh has repeatedly made the restoration of energy supplies to Liberty conditional on the repayment of a large part of the smelter’s two billion dollar debt. At the same time, they make no secret of the fact that they consider Liberty a company in bankruptcy that does not deserve protection from creditors. But the fact is that the courts have not only upheld Liberty’s moratorium, but have recently extended the protection from creditors for another three months.

Liberty, in turn, seeks to remove Tameh from the position of so-called affected creditor. This allows Tameha to vote on Liberty’s restructuring plan, which Liberty does not consider desirable given the enmity between the two firms. Tameh is Liberty’s largest creditor.

Tameh Czech company

Despite the strained relationship, Tameh and Liberty can’t live without each other just yet. However, both sides are already working on the option that they will not return to each other. However, for Tameh and Liberty, becoming independent would require considerable investment.

“In the case of significant investments in technological transformation, the transformation of Tamehu into independent energy production is feasible,” reads the Tamehu document, which was received by those interested in buying the company.

Until last year, Tameh was a profitable business. According to the latest published results for the year before last, it had sales of 7.5 billion crowns and a net profit of 49 million crowns.

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