July 19 (SeeNews) - A total of 156,500 shares of Sofia-based 235 Holdings [BUL:94G], equal to a 3.06% stake in the real estate investment company, changed hands in a block deal for 1 million levs ($593,500/511,300 euro) on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday, forming 75% of the daily regulated market turnover.
The deal was priced at 6.4 levs per share, 12.28% higher than the company's last closing price, bourse data shows.
The total regulated market turnover rose slightly to 1.3 million levs on Thursday from 1.2 million levs on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, 235 Holdings shares closed 14% higher at 5.7 levs, following a block deal for 100,000 shares and two transactions for a small number of shares.
235 Holdings started trading on the Sofia bourse on July 5. In the first transaction with company shares on the BSE, its share price grew to 5 levs from 1 lev.
The share price of both CEZ Electro Bulgaria [BUL:1CZ] and CEZ Distribution Bulgaria [BUL:3CZ], part of Czech energy company CEZ Group, declined sharply during the trading session after on Thursday the local competition regulator banned the sale of CEZ assets in the country to Sofia-based Inercom.
CEZ Electro Bulgaria closed 11.21% lower at 19,000 levs, while CEZ Distribution Bulgaria ended the session 9.68% lower at 224 levs.
In February, CEZ Group agreed to sell its seven units in Bulgaria, including CEZ Electro and CEZ Distribution, to local Inercom for 326 million euro.
In its decision for the ban, the Commission for Protection of Competition said the deal will affect competition as it would lead to the establishing of a dominant position. The deal is of a strategic importance for the country and its potential effects would have direct implications for national security, due to the the wide range of activities of the companies being acquired and their importance to the Bulgarian electricity system, the regulator added.
The deal's cancellation means that there will be no buyout offer for the minority stakes in the two companies, which incentivised some investors to sell, Tsvetoslav Tsachev, chief investment consultant at local brokerage Elana Trading, told SeeNews.
The other major loser during the trading session was Bulgarian-American Credit Bank [BUL:5BN] which dropped 20.27% to 5.9 levs in four deals for a total of 250 shares.
Among blue chips, diversified group Holding Varna [BUL:5V2] rose the most, adding 7.56% to 37 levs, while resort operator Albena [BUL:6AB] was the biggest decliner, closing 1.83% lower at 53.5 levs.
The blue-chip SOFIX index added 0.33% to 630.55 points, as five blue chips saw their share price rise on Thursday.
The wider BGBX40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the Sofia bourse, fell 0.56% to 121.88 points, dragged down by the drop in CEZ Distribution's share price.
The BG-REIT index, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts (REITs), rose 0.15% supported by Bulgarian Real Estate Fund (BREF) REIT [BUL:5BU] and Advance Terrafund REIT [BUL:6A6].
BREF shares closed 0.53% higher at 1.91 levs on Thursday, after on Wednesday the company announced it plans to invest 33 million euro ($38.4 million) in the construction of an office building in state-owned Sofia Tech Park. BREF acquired the right to build and operate the building for 9.65 million levs last year.
Advance Terrafund shares ended the session 0.48% higher at 2.11 levs.
The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, fell 0.24% to 524.15 points.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)