SOFIA (Bulgaria), February 1 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria said on Monday it has received four bids in a tender for a consultant that will advise on the sale of majority state-owned tobacco group Bulgartabac Holding.
All relevant deadlines as well as the names of the candidates will be announced after the offers are unsealed on Tuesday, the country's Privatisation Agency said in a statement.
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The bidding deadline expired at 1530 GMT on Monday, the statement said.
Eligible bidders in the tender are international investment banks which ranked among the top 20 in the M&A League Tables of Financial Advisers, published by Mergermarket, in at least one of the three rankings - global, European, Central and Eastern European (CEE) - between 2007 and 2009, the Agency said when the advisory contract was tendered in December.
The consultant should prove it has a successful track record in advising privatisations or mergers and acquisitions (M&A), or that it has advised at least one successful privatisation in the tobacco industry in the past three years, the Agency also said at the time.
Bulgaria plans to sell Bulgartabac Holding by the middle of 2010, Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traycho Traykov said in December.
Bulgartabac controls around 50% of the domestic tobacco market, according to estimates of the Economy Ministry.
Bulgartabac, 80%-owned by the state, comprises more than 10 subsidiaries in Bulgaria and several idled units abroad. Its privatisation has been delayed for years by political wrangling.
Since Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, the holding group has been faced with tough competition from international majors like British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Karelia Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Tobacco.