Russia Disputes Ownership of Bulgarian Tobacco Company

Source from:  Sofia Echo (bg) 04/14/2009

The Southeast European Times is reporting that Russia intends to take back a number of companies abroad that were once the property of the former Soviet Union, including Bulgarian cigarette maker Bulgartabac, Vladimir Kozhin, head of Russia's Presidential Property Management Department, said on Thursday April 9. Bulgartabac is a Bulgarian tobacco holding company and one of the leading tobacco products producers in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as a major European cigarette producer. Established in 1947 and based in Sofia, it includes 22 joint-stock subsidiary companies in the tobacco-growing regions of the country. "Bulgartabac produces more than 50 cigarette brands and subbrands in its modernizsd factories in Sofia, Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad and Stara Zagora, using both domestic and imported tobacco. Among the company's brands are Victory, Femina, Prestige, Slims, Bulgartabac, MM, Melnik, Seven Hills, Global, Bridge, Tresor, BT, Charlie, Nevada, Orient Express and Country. "We are investigating … and if we find out that the company was once ours, but in a not very legal way has come into foreign hands, we will launch a procedure for its return," Kozhin said, quoted by the Southeast European Times. Russia has repeatedly raised the question of Bulgartabac's ownership. The Soviet Union acquired it as reparations after World War 2. Enditem