Bulgaria Opens Sale Procedure for Freight Unit of State Railways Co
Bulgaria's privatisation agency said it has opened a one-round public tender procedure to sell the freight transport unit of state-owned railway holding company BDZ.
The move aims, among other goals, to preserve and expand the core line of business of BDZ Freight Transport through restructuring and modernisation, the country's privatisation agency said in a press release on Tuesday.
The tender documents for the sale of 100% of the company's capital can be obtained within 20 days after the tender notice is published in the State Gazette. The deadline for filing binding bids expires 135 days after the promulgation of the tender notice.
Both financial and strategic investors are eligible to bid.
Financial investors are required to have had at least 1.0 billion euro ($1.2 billion) in assets or equity holdings under management in each of the last three financial years and to have had an equity capital of no less than 20 million euro in the last financial year.
Strategic investors, meanwhile, should have had a rail freight transport licence for the last 10 years and a turnover of at least 400 million euro in each of the last three years.
The tender winner will have to maintain the company's labor costs and payroll intact for a period of three years.