Bulgaria Raises 179 Mln Euro from Privatisation Deals in 2011
The head of Bulgaria's privatisation agency said proceeds from the sale of state-held stakes in companies totalled 330-350 million levs ($218-232 million/169-179 million euro) in 2011.
Privatisation proceeds are equivalent to about 73 - 75% of the amount projected in the state budget, which is 450 million levs, Emil Karanikolov said in an interview for local daily Trud.
The target set in the budget would have been met of it was not for the change in the ownership of electricity company E.ON Bulgaria, which delayed the planned sale of the state stake in its subsidiaries E.ON Bulgaria Grid and E.ON Bulgaria Sales, Karanikolov said. Earlier this month Czech company Energo Pro agreed to buy from Germany's E.ON its wholly-owned subsidiary E.On Bulgaria, which is the majority owner of E.ON Bulgaria Grid and E.ON Bulgaria Sales. The state holds the remaining 33% stakes in the two companies.