BEWAG starts sales
New BEWAG boss Michael Gerbavsits has revealed that the sale of B.net has started.BEWAG, the leading energy provider in the eastern province of Burgenland, is expected to end various projects abroad as it prepares to merge with gas provider BEGAS.Now Gerbavsits said he has started examining offers of investors interested in acquiring the firms Croatian cable TV and internet provider B.net.”We started the procedure of selling our biggest asset B.net last week,” he told the Kurier newspaper today (Mon).Gerbavsits stressed BEWAG was not under any pressure to find a buyer. Asked whether it was true that Telekom Austria (TA) was offering 100 million Euros, he said: “I dont want to confirm or deny this. We will find out how much money the market is willing to pay.”The new company chief a former Bank Austria (BA) manager and BEWAG supervisory board member also said BEWAG may end its investments in wind power projects in Eastern Europe (EE). He added a sale of its cable TV services in Burgenland might also be on the cards.BEWAG officials announced last month that the company would merge with BEGAS later this year in what is considered as an attempt to create further synergies and work more efficiently.Speaking about the energy providers future consumer price strategy, Gerbavsits stressed that BEWAG “will not enter the market with dumping prices”.Social Democratic (SPÖ) Burgenland Governor Hans Niessl said recently the new top priority of BEWAG and BEGAS would be to offer “fair electricity and gas prices” to households in the province. The Austrian Energy Agency said Austrian households average spending on electricity and gas soared by 5.8 per cent year on year in November 2010 due to higher prices.BEWAG sold its affiliated company BECOM Electronics GmbH (BECOM) to a holding managed by BECOM chiefs Franz Klein und Johann Bock and the AWS Mittelstandsfonds Fund last month.