July 16 (SeeNews) - Austria-registered BT Invest GmbH has divested its entire stake in Bulgaria's Bulgartabac Holding [BUL:57B] on July 12, the Sofia-based tobacco group said on Monday.
BT Invest GmbH has notified Bulgartabac Holding that its shareholding interest in the tobacco group amounted to zero as of July 12, Bulgartabac said in a filing to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
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According to data from Bulgaria's commercial register, BT Invest GmbH held 3,517,778 Bulgartabac Holding shares representing shareholding interest of 47.75% on June 28, when the tobacco group's last general shareholders meeting was held.
At the end of March, BT Invest owned 65.85% of Bulgartabac Holding, according to the tobacco group's interim financial statement.
In two separate filings also published on Monday, Bulgartabac Holding said that two Lichtenstein-registered companies have each acquired a stake in the company on July 12.
Stiga Anstalt acquired 1,086,595 Bulgartabac Holding shares, representing a 14.75% stake, while Woodford Establishment took possession of 2,431,183 Bulgartabac Holding shares, representing a 33.0% stake, according to the filings.
No such volumes of Bulgartabac Holding shares were traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange this month. Bulgartabac Holding shares last traded on the Sofia bourse on July 11, when they closed at 14.7 levs ($8.79/7.52 euro).
Other major shareholders in Bulgartabac Holding are Law and General Trading FZE, which holds 1,029,219 shares, representing a 14.0% stake, and Bulgaria's bankrupt Corporate Commercial Bank, with 443,497 shares, or a 6.02% stake, according to the minutes from Bulgartabac Holding's general shareholders meeting on June 28.
In May, Bulgartabac Holding said Dubai-based company Gifted Master Ltd owns 1,333,602 shares in the company, equal to 18.1% shareholding interest.
Earlier this month, Bulgartabac Holding said it turned to a consolidated net loss of 3.1 million levs in the first quarter from a net profit of 17.3 million levs in the same period of 2017, after a sharp decline in revenue.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)