January 31 (SeeNews) - The European Commission has concluded that the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) is a suitable buyer for the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX), the Sofia bourse said on Wednesday.
The Commission has decided that the BSE has the necessary financial means, expertise and motivation to develop IBEX as an independent and competitive energy market, the Sofia bourse said in a statement.
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The Commission's decision was the last mandatory requirement for the entry into force of the purchase agreement for transferring the shares of IBEX between BEH and BSE.
The next step includes payment of the agreed initial amount and establishment of an unconditional revolving bank guarantee for the deferred portion of the purchase price, the BSE said.
In September, the BSE said its shareholders approved the acquisition as well as a proposal to finance it through proceeds from the sale of government securities which the BSE owns.
In August, the BSE said it had reached an agreement with state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) to acquire the IBEX for 5.2 million levs ($3.1 million/2.7 million euro).
The BSE will make an initial down payment of 4 million levs, while the remaining 1.2 million levs will be paid in three equal semi-annual instalments, it said at the time.
The transfer of ownership of IBEX was requested by the European Commission in December 2015 to prevent abuse of dominant position. BEH, which pools state-owned energy assets, committed to offer certain volumes of electricity on an independently-operated day-ahead market on a newly-created power exchange and transfer ownership of the new power exchange to the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance.
Under the Commission’s decision, dated December 12, 2015, BEH was given six months from the date of formal notification of the decision to transfer the ownership of IBEX’s capital to the Ministry of Finance.
Following BEH’s request for opinion, the European Commission said that the BSE is a more appropriate buyer of IBEX than the finance ministry and the deadline for transferring ownership was extended to October 2017.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)