Bulgaria invites bids for 51 pct in tobacco monopoly (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Bulgaria invites bids for 51 pct in tobacco monopoly
Source: Reuters, Friday, 12/17/99

BOROVETS, Bulgaria, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Bulgaria on Friday set a March 20
deadline for bids for 51 percent in state-owned tobacco giant Bulgartabak
Holding, a Privatisation Agency official said.

``The March 20 deadline is stated in an announcement issued by the
Privatisation Agency, which is due to be published shortly in the State
Gazette,'' the agency's deputy executive director Ilia Kaloferov told
reporters.

The tobacco group is one of the country's most lucrative assets. It is a
joint stock company with 22 subsidiaries in Bulgaria including 12 tobacco
processing factories, nine cigarette plants and one producer of tobacco
driers, filters and packing.

Bulgartabak now has three tobacco factories in Russia, one in Ukraine and
plans to launch another in Slovakia through a joint venture.

Bidders will be required to deposit one million euros, said Kaloferov,
speaking during a one-day seminar summing up the Privatisation Agency's
work this year.

Under a Bulgartabak sell-off plan passed last month, the government plans
to sell up to 34 percent to a strategic buyer and make acquisition of the
remaining 17 percent conditional on fulfillment of several requirements.

The requirements include expanding Bulgartabak's export markets and
retaining its dominant position on the domestic market. The company must
also retain current levels of payments to the state in taxes and excise
duties, upgrade some of the older factories and ensure the company
continues buying domestically produced tobacco.

The government plans to retain a golden share to ensure its decisive role
in votes concerning the company's location, trade marks and transformation
of production.

The remaining shares would be placed locally or globally after the company
is sold to a strategic investor, according to the privatisation strategy.

The trade ministry manages the 92.25 percent state stake in Bulgartabak.
Around seven percent were sold against vouchers under a mass privatisation
plan four years ago and have been traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange
(BSE) since then.

Bulgartabak's shares last traded at 29 levs ($15.2) on the BSE on December
15. ($-1.904 Bulgarian levs