The sale of Centrenergo, the only major state company scheduled for privatization this year, has been canceled

The sale of Centrenergo, the only major state company scheduled for privatization this year, has been canceled, Vitaly Trubarov, head of the State Property Fund, announced Tuesday afternoon. There was no alternative date set for the sale, which was to take place Thursday morning. The sale was canceled due to ‘insufficient documentation’ by the two qualified bidders: a unit of Interservice of Belarus, and Ukrdoninvest LLC, controlled by Vitaly Kropachev, Ukraine’s biggest private non-integrated miner of steam coal. The starting price for the 78% of state-owned shares was set at $214 million by Ernst & Young, privatization advisors.