SOFIA (Bulgaria), October 31 (SeeNews) – Czech power utility CEZ Group said on Tuesday it has sold its Varna thermal power plant (TPP) in Bulgaria to local company SIGDA.
“CEZ has decided to accept the offer of Bulgarian company SIGDA OOD, which has been evaluated as a best offer received in the tender,” CEZ Group said in a statement.
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The final purchase price will be determined as of closing of the transaction based on the level of working capital, the statement reads.
The deal is subject to approval by Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition.
TPP Varna, which has an installed capacity of 1,260 MW, has been shut down since January 2015 due to non-compliance with environmental limits set in its permit.
Last month, Czech media reported the supervisory board of CEZ Group has issued a preliminary approval to sell the group's Varna TPP for 50 million euro ($59 million) to an unnamed buyer, opening the way for the negotiations to proceed.
“The original plan was to sell all assets together, but that has changed because the bid for Varna was so attractive that most probably it will be sold separately," Hospodarske Noviny news daily quoted Vaclav Paces, chairman of CEZ’s supervisory board, as saying at the time.
Earlier this month, Bulgaria's energy regulator granted permission for decommissioning of three of Varna TPP's six units. The decommissioning of the three units will cost 8.7 million euro, while the proceeds from their sale for scrap metal will amount to 7.1 million euro.
In August, CEZ Group said it had received binding bids for its assets in Bulgaria from several candidates. It did not name the candidates.
In January, CEZ Group announced it had decided to study the options related to its equity investments in Bulgaria, based on the interest of several unnamed investors. It did not elaborate.
The assets of CEZ Group in Bulgaria comprise CEZ Distribution Bulgaria, the public supplier of electricity and a licensed trader CEZ Electro Bulgaria, licensed electricity trader CEZ Trade Bulgaria and Varna thermal power plant. The operations of those companies are managed and coordinated by CEZ Bulgaria.
($ = 0.8466 euro)