Tender Documents for Bulgaria's Bulgartabac to Be Submitted by Monday

The tender documents will show how many companies are seriously interested in buying Bulgartabac. File photo

Monday is the last day in which bidders for Bulgarian tobacco giant Bulgartabac may submit their tender documents for purchasing its majority stake.

The tender documents will show how many companies are seriously interested in buying Bulgartabac. Binding offers have to be filed by the August 29.

Ten companies have purchased tender documentation for the sale.

Philip Morris and British American Tobacco are no longer eyeing the purchase, according to the Dnevnik daily, which is citing its own sources.

The majority stake - 79,83% - in Bulgaria's state cigarette producer Bulgartabac Holding, whose management has been harshly criticized in recent years, was put on sale on April 26 after years of procrastination.

The bidder with the highest offer will be selected for buyer. No initial price has been set.

The buyer of Bulgartabac is to be known by September 6, the Bulgarian Privatization Agency has claimed with certainty.

In spite of declarations in April 2010 that Bulgaria's Privatization Agency hoped to complete the sale of state-owned cigarette monopoly Bulgartabac in 2010, no such deal went through by the end of December 2010.

The consultant for the Bulgartabac sale, Citigroup Global Markets Ltd, was picked by the Bulgarian government in February 2010.

Two of the less profitable plants of Bulgartabac holding – in the cities of Plovdiv and Stara Zagora – were sold in 2009 through the Sofia Stock Exchange – for BGN 31 M and BGN 18 M respectively.

The holding currently owns the two larger and more consolidated factories in Sofia and Blagoevgrad as well as a number of commercial brands.

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