August 12 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said that Cyprus-based company Potamiro does not need to seek its approval to acquire the owner of Bulgarian hotel operator Sofia Hotel Balkan [BUL:3ZB].
The combined turnover in Bulgaria of all companies involved in the transaction for the last full financial year is lower than the 25 million levs ($15 million/12.8 million euro) threshold requiring anti-trust clearance, the competition authority said in its decision published last week.
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Potamiro intends to acquire 100% of Naranjilla Company, which controls 87.49% interest in Sofia Hotel Balkan through its wholly-owned subsidiary Bandola Properties.
Cyprus-based Kokari is the other notable shareholder in Sofia Hotel Balkan, with 11.85% interest.
Shares in Sofia Hotel Balkan last traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange at a price of 97.5 levs apiece, giving the company a market capitalisation of over 513 million levs.
The Bulgarian hotel operator posted a consolidated net loss of 1.5 million levs ($865,400/766,900 euro) in the first quarter of 2020, as compared to a net loss of 776,000 levs a year earlier. Sofia Hotel Balkan's revenue decreased to 5 million levs in the January-March period of 2020 from 6.5 million levs in the same period of last year.
Located in downtown Sofia, the five-star Sofia Hotel Balkan has 184 rooms, according to information published on its website.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)