SOFIA (Bulgaria), August 31 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria’s privatisation agency said on Wednesday it approved the sale of a 79.83% state-owned stake in local tobacco group Bulgartabac Holding [BUL:57B] to Austria's BT Invest for 100.1 million euro ($145.3 million).
The privatisation contract will be signed within 15 days, as by then BT Invest must submit a declaration on the origin of its funds, the agency said in a statement.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The deal is pending approval by the agency’s supervisory board.
BT Invest has pledged to purchase from local farmers at least 5,000 tonnes of tobacco annually within a period of five years, as well as to invest 7.0 million levs ($5.2 million/3.6 million euro) in Bulgartabac Holding in two years.
BT Invest was the sole bidder in the tender which was launched in May after the two other contestants that had been allowed to participate quit.
Bulgartabac shares last traded on the Sofia bourse on Tuesday, closing 3.43% lower at 26.6 levs in a volume of 799 shares.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)