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July 20th, 2008
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NWR The mining holding company New World Resources will launch the Czech Republic’s largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) in the second quarter, the company announced April 10. The firm, which owns the black coal miner OKD, will list between 25 percent to 33 percent of its shares on stock exchanges in Prague, London and Warsaw. The IPO could be worth some 1.4 billion euros ($2.2 billion/35.2 billion Kč), according to analysts.

REFORMS The ČMKOS, the country’s largest union organization, is planning a “month of unrest” in protest to the governing coalition’s reforms of the health care and pension systems, ČMKOS Chairman Milan Štěch said April 14. Beginning May 14, the unions will demonstrate outside of the government’s offices once a week. The union has not ruled out the possibility of a general strike, Štěch added.
VIAGRA The country’s largest pharmaceutical company is developing a generic equivalent to the male potency drug Viagra, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported April 15. Zentiva expects to introduce the drug on the Czech market in June 2011, when Viagra’s patent coverage expires. Zentiva could introduce the drug even earlier in Slovakia and Bulgaria.
BULGARIA The energy utility ČEZ has reached a deal with its striking workers in Bulgaria, the company said April 11. Workers at the electricity distributor ČEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria received a pay increase of nearly 25 percent. ČEZ’s plan to eliminate 400 jobs as part of its restructuring of the company, also a matter of dispute, has not changed.
TENDER The government is inviting environmental firms to the largest contract tender ever offered by the state, the Finance Ministry said April 10. The contract is to repair the 114 billion Kč ($7.26 billion) worth of environmental damage caused by communist-era oil and chemical companies during their privatization. The state wants to shift this obligation to a private company in a bid to avoid potential arbitration cases.
GAZPROM Vemex, a unit of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, will purchase nearly all of the natural gas produced by the Czech gas company MND, Týden.cz reported April 10. Vemex has operated on the Czech market since the end of 2006 and could sell 850 million cubic meters (30.1 billion cubic feet) of gas this year, which would be 10 percent of the market. Gazprom also supplies RWE Transgas, the country’s largest gas distributor.
CROWN The Finance Ministry and the Czech National Bank have reached a deal to stash any privatization revenues in a foreign-currency account, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said April 9. The move is aimed at curbing the rapid appreciation of the crown, which gained more than 8 percent against the euro in the first quarter.
BRAZIL The Czech Republic and Brazil signed an economic accord in Prague April 12 during Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva’s visit to the country. The agreement will encourage more interaction between Czech and Brazilian entrepreneurs. Brazil is the Czech Republic’s largest trading partner in South America, but saw only 9.9 million Kč worth of Czech investment last year.


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