January 22 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) said it has suspended the acquisition of local ammunition manufacturer Dunarit by privately held arms trader Emko and ordered a re-examination of the deal by the competition authority.
A five-member judge panel of SAC has admitted an appeal by offshore company Viafot Limited against the earlier decision of a three-member judge panel to reject the return of the deal back to the Commission for the Protection of Competition, SAC said in its ruling published on Monday.
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Viafot Limited has tried to block the acquisition of Dunarit by Emko as Viafot was among the creditors of the ammunition producer. In 2017, Viafot Limited sold the debt to a third party.
The Commission for the Protection of Competition said in 2016 that Emko does not need approval to acquire Dunarit as the two companies' annual turnover on the domestic market does not exceed the threshold requiring notification of the regulator about a possible deal.
In 2015, Dunarit's commercial licence was suspended for four months after its owner Tsvetan Vasilev was indicted on charges of embezzling large sums from Bulgaria's Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank).