October 19 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian industrial group Synergon Holding said on Friday it has sold a 95.12% stake in its electrodes manufacturer Electrodes to Exelvia International Holding, a subsidiary of UK welding materials producer ESAB, for 6.8 million euro ($9.7 million).
Synergon Holding sold a total of 2.948 million shares, equaling 95.12% pct of Electrodes' share capital, the holding company said in a statement to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE).
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Shares in Synergon, part of the broad BG 40 index of the BSE, closed 1.72% higher at 16.18 levs on Friday.
Synergon ( www.synergon.bg ) was set up in 1996 as a privatisation fund under Bulgaria's voucher privatisation programme. The fund was transformed into a holding structure the following year.
Synergon has 24 subsidiaries and two affiliated companies operating in various sectors of the Bulgarian economy. Only three of them, blue-chip fuel and construction materials retailer Toplivo, chemical company Petar Karaminchev and lamps producer Svetlina, are listed on the BSE.
ESAB Group is one of the world's leading welding materials and equipment producers, present in over 80 countries. Its sales for 2006 stood at 828.4 million pounds ($1.697 billion/1.190 billion euro).
The holding company said earlier this year it plans to list its hotel operator Grand Hotel Plovdiv on the Sofia stock exchange.