Bulgartabac Sale Given Competition Clearance

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 09/30/2011

Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition on Tuesday gave formal approval for BT Invest to acquire Bulgartabac, according to a Novinite story quoting a Bulgarian National Radio report. At the end of August, the Vienna-based BT Invest, which is owned by Russia's second-largest bank, VTB, won the tender to buy a 79.8 per cent stake in Bulgartabac when, as the only bidder, it offered €100,000 above the minimum price of €100 million. The day before the Commission had given its approval for the sale, Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov, confirmed earlier media reports that VTB was highly likely to resell Bulgartabac's assets. Nova TV channel reported Traikov as saying that while the sale contract banned the resale of the holding during the next 10 years, it did not ban a change in ownership of the new owner, BT Invest. Asked whether the deal was profitable enough for Bulgaria, the minister replied: "I would say this is a decent deal". "This deal had to be signed," he added. "I am glad it did not flop again. "We raked in the money, pulled the liquidity from the company. "I have done everything I had to do in my capacity of minister." Enditem