Montenegro's government expects to receive offers for strategic partnership with the country's power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) [MNG:EPCG] in the first quarter of 2018, prime minister Dusko Markovic has said. The projects for attracting a strategic partner into the capital structure of EPCG and for construction of a second unit of Pljevlja thermal power plant are arousing significant interest and the government expects offers for both of them in the first quarter, Markovic said in a video file streamed in the YouTube channel of the Montenegrin government on Wednesday. In any case, the government aims to keep a majority stake in EPCG, Markovic added. Montenegro's government said in July it received an official application by Italian utility A2A for the sale of the company's 41.7% shareholding interest in EPCG. The government will pay 250 million euro ($290 million) for the shares held by A2A in seven annual instalments to avoid burdening the state budget, the government said back then. Italian financial daily Milano Finanza reported in November that Finnish energy company Fortum and US company ContourGlobal were interested in the acquisition of the 41.7% stake in EPCG held by A2A.