November 20 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria aims to set up a mammoth structure comprising state-run energy companies by the middle of next year and consider its listing on the stock exchange in Sofia at a later stage, a government official said on Tuesday.
"We expect to have by the end of the year a proposal for the restructuring, respectively for the setting up of such a holding company including a detailed action plan," Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Galina Tosheva-Grigorova told SeeNews on the sidelines of the 10th CEI Summit Economic Forum taking place in Sofia.
"Our goal is to create it by the middle of next year," she added.
The future energy megastructure will incorporate Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy, gas company Bulgargaz, power grid operator NETC, coal-fired power plant Maritsa East 2 and Maritsa East coal mines. By setting up the new company the government in Sofia aims to restore the country's role of a leading power exporter in southeastern Europe, which Bulgaria lost after closing down a second pair of 440-MW nuclear reactors at Kozloduy under pressure from the EU.
"The listing on a stock market is just an option for this structure," Tosheva-Grigorova said and added that the holding could be listed on the local bourse first and on an international stock exchange later.
A couple of months ago Bulgargaz announced its plans to go public of its own over the next three years, aiming to raise its price and attract financing for its development plans, if the Economy and Energy Ministry endorsed the idea.
The 10th CEI Summit Economic Forum is jointly organised by Central European Initiative, a regional organisation for political, economic and cultural cooperation and Bulgaria Economic Forum, an organisation aiming to promote the business environment of southeast Europe to potential foreign investors.