ÃÂEZ Group ( ÃÂeské Energetické Závody) is a conglomerate of 96 companies (including the parent company ÃÂEZ, a.s.), 72 of them in the Czech Republic. Its core business is the generation, distribution, trade in, and sales of electricity and heat, trade in and sales of natural gas, and coal extraction. ÃÂEZ Group operates also in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey. ÃÂEZ, a.s. is listed on Prague Stock Exchange and Warsaw Stock Exchange.
ÃÂEZ is the largest utility and biggest public company in Central and Eastern Europe. Its majority shareholder is the Czech government, owning 70% of shares. Its historical political activities have come under scrutiny. According to the Economist, "though nominally state-run, many see the power flowing the other way: from CEZ's board into politics". Capital Group Companies invested 2.98% into ÃÂEZ Group. Since 2011, when Daniel Beneà ¡ became the CEO these calls have faded out.
As of late 2010, the EU was investigating the company's activities. Comments made by third parties under the market test have shown no need to materially change the commitments proposed by ÃÂEZ to the European Commission in June 2012. Under the Settlement Agreement, ÃÂEZ undertakes to sell one of five specific power plants with an installed capacity of at least 800 MW.
In January 2013, Albania started a dispute by removing the CEZ license to operate in Albania. In June 2014 both parties agreed to settle a dispute. Albania will pay CEZ 100 million euros by 2018 in yearly installments, an amount roughly equal to CEZ's initial investment.
In February 2013, Bulgarians began to mass protests against the company and two other foreign-owned power distributors, suggesting the government to follow the case of Albania. All three were fined by Bulgarian competition watchdog. However, ÃÂEZ said it had not breached Bulgarian and European laws and would launch an appeal against the ruling in court.
In 2015, ÃÂEZ scored first in Deloitte CEE Top 500 according to market cap and fourth in overall ranking and was elected overall winner of the 2015 Euromoney Best Managed Companies Survey for Central and Eastern Europe.
In March 2024, it was announced ÃÂEZ had agreed to acquire a 55.21% stake in the Czech Republic gas distribution network operator, GasNet in a deal valued at â¬846.5 million. On October 29 a report came out stating that the company has signed an agreement with Rolls-Royce SMR to develop small modular reactors.
ÃÂEZ Group is an operator of various energy sources. Most important energy sources are listed (in the Czech Republic, if not indicated):
In 2015 CEZ operated 2,3 GW of hydro power plants in Europe and Asia, including the biggest pump storages.
ÃÂEZ Group has invested more than CZK 200bn in development and in environmental measures during its modern history to increase efficiency and reduce emission of its power plants. Today, the ÃÂEZ brand represents energy producers or suppliers in a total of 7 countries.
Source: Annual Reports
Source:Helgi Library; Presentation for investors - August 2015
Source:Helgi Library; Presentation for investors - August 2015
In 1994 a minor stake in the company was privatized using voucher privatization. If citizens invested all their vouchers (sold for 1000,- KÃÂs) in ÃÂEZ, they gained 33 stocks (330 current shares after stock split). In 2007 the Czech government decided to gradually sell another 7% stake of ÃÂEZ on the stock market, but due to the stock price fall during spring 2009, affected by 2008 financial crisis, selling was suspended. In 2008, the company decided to repurchase 9% of the company's shares.
As of December 31, 2011, the Czech Republic represented by Ministry of Finance remained the company's largest shareholder with 69.78% stake in the stated capital. Other shareholders included:
The company is traded on the Prague, Warsaw, Frankfurt and RM-SYSTÃÂM Czech stock exchanges. and since 2001 company is paying annual dividends.
In October 2024, ÃÂEZ took a 20% stake in Rolls-Royce SMR at a cost of "several hundred million pounds"; ÃÂEZ plan to deploy up to 3 GWe of SMR generation capacity in the 2030s in the Czech Republic.
The building of a network of public charging stations for electric vehicles got fully underway in 2011. The first public charging station â in front of ÃÂEZ's headquarters in Prague's Duhová Street â opened on November 30, 2011. As of December 2011, seven CEZ Group public charging stations were in operation, in Prague and ChrÃ¡à ¡à ¥any, Prague-West district. ÃÂEZ's given charities electric cars to use and test. Between 50 and 100 electric cars being made available over the coming years. The first two vehicles â a Fiat Fiorino Combi and a Fiat Fiorino Cargo â went to a senior citizen health care charity based in Prague.
ÃÂEZ is the largest utility and biggest public company in Central and Eastern Europe. Its influence on the Czech politics and connections to Russia have come under scrutiny. According to the Economist, "though nominally state-run, many see the power flowing the other way: from ÃÂEZ's board into politics".
The management of ÃÂEZ has financed the country's largest political parties â the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Social Democrats (ÃÂSSD). One analysis points out that the financing has resembled that coming from PPF and J&T, two firms which have been highly active in Russia since the early 1990s (for example, Russia was one of the first international expansion destinations of Home Credit, a PPF-owned lending company) and their senior management is known to have links to the former Czechoslovak StB security service and the Soviet KGB.
In 2010, a Czech court ruled that, as a state-owned company, ÃÂEZ must disclose political activities.
Leaked pictures show politicians across political spectrum, including former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, holidaying with ÃÂEZ lobbyists in Italy.
As of late 2010 the European Union was investigating ÃÂEZ. The company's offices were raided in November 2010.
ÃÂEZ was said to have selected a mysterious company called CEEI to construct a billion dollar nuclear storage facility for the Czech Republic. The company's paper trace ends in U.B.I.E, a company registered in Liechtenstein. Russia's honorary consul is named as its director. The company is believed to be under Russian control. CEEI's directors include Václav Klaus's former chief of staff (Jià ÂàKováà Â) and a man who is jail for kidnapping.
In 2015, ÃÂEZ scored first in Deloitte CEE Top 500 according to market cap and forth in overall ranking.