Sofia City To Open Talks with Equest To Buy Municipal Waste Manager - Media

Talks with EIB on the acquisition of the Novera waste management operation are expected to start on Friday, business daily Dnevnik reported, quoting Sofia City Municipal Council chairman Andrey Ivanov.

Taking over Novera, the municipality may have to assume debts estimated at 34 million euro ($45.4 million), the daily reported.

EIB bought Novera two years ago for 45 million euro. The UK equity firm said in September that it had started talks with a strategic partner for Novera, evaluated at 38.8 million euro ($51.8 million), as the company had a "poor financial performance" over the first half of 2008.

($ = 0.7502 euro)