I am glad to have stable partners with a good, contemporary image who enjoy a brisk growth. We have things in common. They want to step in Europe and are very successful.
These were the words of Turkish pop singer Tarkan at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first Bulgarian filling station of Turkish Opet Aygaz in April 2004. Three years later the Turkish fuel retailer secretly decided to sell its Bulgarian operations, without inviting any pop stars.
Opet Aygaz Bulgaria was set up in 2003 by liquid fuel distributors Opet and LPG trader Aygaz, which are both units of Turkish industrial conglomerate Koc Holding. Opet is the fourth largest fuel retailer in Turkey and Aygaz is the largest LPG trader in Bulgaria’s southern neighbour.
Upon entering the Bulgarian market, Koc Holding said it would pour 120 mln euro into 60 outlets within three years and would seek to become one of the leading players on the local market. Three years have already passed, but the holding company runs only 17 outlets, some of which are franchised. Instead of planning a further expansion of its Bulgarian network, Koc Holding is about to sell it.
A procedure to pick a buyer is currently underway and will be finalised in 2008, said Georgi Tatarski, general manager of Opet Aygaz Bulgaria. Under data of participants in the procedure, almost all the leading oil companies in Bulgaria are vying for the outlets of Opet. They are Lukoil Bulgaria, Petrol, Rompetrol Bulgaria, Eko Elda Bulgaria and OMV. The industrial conglomerate Chimimport, controlled by Varna-based economic group TIM, is among the suitors. It is interested in the local fuel retail market, although it has not put any investments in it yet.
Opet Aygaz refused to comment on whether the above-mentioned companies are among the potential buyers. Some media even reported that Lukoil Bulgaria was already picked buyer.
It is not true that Opet has sold its operations to Lukoil Bulgaria, Tatarski asserted.
Only Lukoil and Chimimport confirmed their interest and participation in the sale procedure, which was opened in August and is currently at a phase of submission of non-binding bids.
Tatarski declined to give any details about the procedure and the reasons for the sale.
Apart from fuel outlets, Opet Aygaz owns three LPG storage facilities in Bulgaria. The company did not say whether it would sell them.
It is the second withdrawal of Koc Holding from Bulgaria. In early 2007 the company sold its store chain Ramstore in the country. Its peers attributed the sale to the company’s unsuccessful strategy and poor financial results. Koc Holding also took part in the sell-off procedure of the Bulgarian Telecommunications company (BTC). However, it lost the race.
($ = 1.3508 Bulgarian levs)
03-09/11/07, P68
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