[Intl-tobacco] Korea's KT&G Eyes Bulgarian Tobacco Monopoly

[Robert Weissman]

Korea's KT&G Eyes Bulgarian Tobacco Monopoly
bnn
 January 29, 2004

 Sofia - Korea's tobacco and cigarette company KT&G is interested in the
 privatization of Bulgaria's tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding AD, the
 Ministry of Economy said Thursday. A KT&G delegation met Thursday Deputy
 Minister of Economy Dimitar Ivanovski in talks about the Bulgartabac
 privatization plans.

 The government announced last year it would sell Bulgartabac factory by
 factory after failing earlier to sell the entire holding to a
 Bulgarian-Dutch consortium controlled by Deutsche Bank. So far British
 American Tobacco and Philip Morris have indicated they might bid for
 Bulgartabac factories.

 KT&G controls 80% of the Korean cigarette market and has wide
operations in
 Southeast Asia. It has been buying Bulgarian tobacco in the recent years.
 Bulgartabac includes 12 processing factories and nine cigarette factories.
 It also has five cigarette factories in Russia and one each in Ukraine,
 Romania and Yugoslavia.

 A deal to sell 80 percent of Bulgartabac to Deutsche Bank-controlled Tobacco
 Capital Partners-Clar Innis for EUR110 million fell apart last March as the
 potential buyer would not accept a number of government requirements
 including state control on raw tobacco prices until 2007. (EUR1=US$1.24)
 /bnn/