Gov"t to Privatize KEPCO

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Energy (MOICE) announced on January 21 that it will spin-off power-generating facilities and services of Korea Electric Power Corp.(KEPCO) into five or seven subsidiaries and sell at least one of those subsidiaries to a privately-owned company within this year. The government intends to completely privatize all the subsidiaries by 2002.
According to the plan, the government will set up a nuclear generating facility and four to six hydroelectric or coal burning generators by integrating KEPCO's existing 56 generating facilities.
The government will sell one of the subsidiaries, believed to be worth 3 to 5 billion dollars, through an international bidding and privatize all other subsidiaries, excluding nuclear reactors, by 2002.
Within the first quarter of this year, the government will initially offer 5 percent of its 58.2-percent equity stake in KE by issuing Depository Receipts(DR) in international markets.