February 5 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) said on Monday it has completed the acquisition of the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) for 5.2 million levs ($3.1 million/2.7 million euro).
The BSE has paid 4.0 million levs from the total price, while it will pay the remaining 1.2 million levs in three instalments over the next 18 months, the Sofia bourse said in a statement.
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Last week, the BSE said it has received the European Commission's approval to acquire IBEX. 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 at the time.
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.
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)