CEZ split "totally unacceptable", says Czech prime minister designate Babis

PRAGUE, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Incoming Czech prime minister Andrej Babis reiterated his opposition to selling off part of state utility CEZ, saying it would be "totally unacceptable" as it would cost taxpayers, consumers and companies, daily Hospodarske Noviny reported.

Selling CEZ's sales and distribution units and keeping its nuclear and possibly coal production in state hands is one of the options the government has debated as a financing model to expand nuclear power plants.

Billionaire businessman Babis came out against a CEZ split before the election in October, in which his ANO party won most votes.

"It is totally unacceptable to sell the sales and distribution part and the state keep production," he told daily Hospodarske Noviny.

CEZ should expand internally, he said.

"CEZ should take Dukovany (nuclear power plant), value it, place it in a 100 percent daughter company and hold a tender for a supplier of the technology and financing," he was quoted as saying in Tuesday's edition of the paper.

Special purpose companies owned by either CEZ or the government are other options for funding new nuclear units.

CEZ, 70 percent owned by the state, has long maintained it could not undertake the multi-billion dollar investment without some form of state support, such as price guarantees.

A lack of government support sank a CEZ tender to build new reactors in 2014.

Czech media have reported possible suppliers that have shown interest in a new project include South Korea's KHNP, China's General Nuclear Power, Russia's Rosatom, France's EDF and ATMEA, a joint venture between Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France's Areva.

Babis was appointed prime minister last week and his new cabinet is due to take power on Wednesday.

Babis's ANO still lacks a majority in parliament and has not found any willing coalition partners, pushing it to seek a minority government that will struggle to win a confidence vote.

However, President Milos Zeman has said he would give Babis a second try at forming a government if he fails to win the confidence vote. (Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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