SOFIA (Bulgaria), February 27 (SeeNews) – Czech energy group CEZ, which has signed a deal to sell its assets in Bulgaria to Sofia-based Inercom, said on Tuesday that state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank has shown interest towards refinancing a EBRD loan provided to the company.
"We have a letter from the Bulgarian Development Bank where they declare an interest in refinancing the EBRD loan," CEZ press officer Alice Horakova told SeeNews in an e-mailed statement following Czech media reports on the matter.
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"We only have one loan from EBRD," Herakova added.
Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny reported in its online edition on Tuesday that Sofia-based UniCredit Bulbank has pledged to provide financing of 180 million euro, while Bulgaria's private First Investment Bank (Fibank) has committed to lending 80 million euro to Inercom for the acquisition of the assets of CEZ in Bulgaria. According to documents of the Czech group's supervisory board, the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) would refinance an existing EBRD loan to CEZ, Lidove Noviny said.
On Sunday, BDB said in a statement e-mailed to SeeNews that it had neither issued a guarantee, nor approved financing in the deal for the sale of the assets of CEZ in Bulgaria.
"Fibank has not committed to finance the transaction," the bank said in an e-mailed statement to SeeNews on Tuesday.
Bulgarian public radio BNR on Tuesday reported that representatives of UniCredit Bulbank declined to comment on the media report published by Lidove Noviny.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in November 2016 that it had arranged a 116 million euro financing package, mobilising funds from commercial banks under its A/B loan structure to help CEZ Razpredelenie [BUL:3CZ], the power distribution unit of CEZ in Bulgaria, carry out critical infrastructure investments in the electricity distribution grid. The EBRD said at the time it would provide 60% of the financing on its own account and the rest will be syndicated to BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.
"If anybody has submitted false information to CEZ's Supervisory Board, it would be a big problem. I am very unpleasantly surprised," Czech prime minister Andrej Babis said in an interview published by Lidove Noviny on Tuesday. "I am shocked by what is happening in Bulgaria."
"[Bulgarian] Prime minister Boyko Borisov said that the whole thing is being investigated by various authorities. I do not understand the current situation at all. The CEO of CEZ should explain to the Supervisory Board what is happening. The development of the situation throws a very negative light on the transaction," Babis said.
Bulgarian president Rumen Radev called on the government on Tuesday to intervene and respond to the concerns of all citizens regarding the deal, as Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security is already investigating it, BNR reported.
"The resignation of the energy minister does not end the case. On the contrary, it raises even more questions," Radev said in an audio file posted on the website of BNR.
Prime minister Boyko Borisov said on Friday that he will accept the resignation of energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova, which she said will tender in response to allegations of her involvement in the sale of CEZ assets in Bulgaria to Inercom. Earlier, Petkova confirmed she knows the owner of Inercom, Ginka Varbakova, but denied having any family relations with her.
"The Bulgarian politicians' reaction and the resignation of the Bulgarian minister are an alert. It is a negative information," Babis said in the interview.
CEZ Group said last week it signed a contract for the sale of its Bulgarian assets with Inercom for an undisclosed sum after the group's supervisory board granted consent to the transaction.
The package contains seven companies - power distributor CEZ Razpredelenie, 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.
Inercom manages seven solar parks in southern Bulgaria with a total capacity of over 100 MW.
($ = 0.811835 euro)