PRAGUE (Dow Jones)--Czech power company CEZ AS (BAACEZ.PR) Thursday said that ongoing talks with Hungarian gas and oil company MOL NYRT (MOL.BU) over creating a joint venture need more time and may not be concluded until some time next year.
"We are in the final stage of negotiations and probably till the end of the year, or in the beginning of the next year, we will be ready to publish results of negotiations" regarding creation of a joint venture company, CEZ spokeswoman Eva Novakova told Dow Jones Newswires.
The two companies aim to create a new company that would undertake the construction and operation of 800-megawatt natural gas-fired power plants in Slovakia and in Hungary.
The companies earlier said they would conclude talks before the end of this year.
Novakova declined to comment of the progress of talks regarding CEZ taking a 10% equity stake in MOL. CEZ taking a stake in MOL was originally announced this summer as a possible step CEZ would take concurrently with establishing the joint venture company.