Bulgaria's Anti-Trust Body Bans Sale of CEZ Assets to Inercom
Bulgaria's competition authority said on Thursday it has banned the sale of the local assets of Czech energy group CEZ to Sofia-based Inercom. Inercom Bulgaria can appeal the ban before the Supreme Administrative Court in the next 14 days, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said in its decision.CEZ had no immediate comment, as the group would need time to study the regulator's decision in detail, it said in an e-mailed statement to SeeNews. Inercom said they were surprised by the ban."Inercom will carefully analyse the motives for the regulator's decision and, in the next days, we will announce both our opinion regarding the ban, and the actions that our company will take," it said in a statement. According to the regulator's analysis, the deal will lead to the establishing of a dominant position, affecting competition. The deal is of a strategic importance for the country and its potential effects would have direct implications for national security, due to the the wide range of activities of the companies being acquired and their importance to the Bulgarian electricity system, the regulator added.