July 24 (SeeNews) - Czech energy group CEZ said on Tuesday it will not comment on Bulgarian media reports that it may enter negotiations on the sale of its Bulgarian assets with India Power Corporation.
"At the moment we still have a valid sales agreement with Inercom and we are evaluating on what our next steps will be, so we will not comment on this matter," CEZ Group's press officer Alice Horakova said in an emailed response to a seeNews query.
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Earlier on Tuesday, daily 24 Chasa quoted Horakova as saying that in case CEZ decides to resume negotiations on the sale of its Bulgarian assets, the prospective buyer would be India Power Corporation — the second-ranked bidder after Inercom in an auction for the assets.
Last week, Bulgaria's competition authority banned the sale of the local assets of CEZ to Sofia-based Inercom. According to the regulator's analysis, the a deal with Inercom will lead to the establishing of a dominant position, affecting competition.
The deal is of a strategic importance for the country and its potential effects would have direct implications for national security, due to the the wide range of activities of the companies being acquired and their importance to the Bulgarian electricity system, the regulator added at the time.
Inercom Bulgaria can appeal the ban before the Supreme Administrative Court in the next 14 days.
CEZ's assets in Bulgaria includes seven companies - power distributor CEZ Razpredelenie [BUL:3CZ], power supplier CEZ Electro Bulgaria [BUL:1CZ], licensed electricity trader CEZ Trade Bulgaria, IT services company CEZ ICT Bulgaria, solar park Free Energy Project Oreshetz, biomass-fired power plant Bara Group and CEZ Bulgaria, which manages and coordinates the operations of the group's Bulgarian units.
The price of the transaction was 326 million euro ($378.3 million), according to CEZ Group's annual financial statement published in March.
The contract between CEZ Group and Inercom was signed on February 23. The deal has raised concerns about Inercom's ability to finance the acquisition, which resulted in the establishment of a parliamentary ad hoc committee with the purpose of looking into the deal.
Inercom Bulgaria was incorporated for the purpose of the deal with CEZ. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sofia-based Inercom Investments, according to data from the Bulgarian commercial register. The company has a registered capital of 50,000 levs. Inercom manages six solar parks in southern Bulgaria with a total capacity of 23 MW and is also developing a project for a 80 MW solar park.
($ =0.8618 euro)