Bulgarian Anti-Trust Body Declines to Open Proceedings on Inercom Buy of CEZ Assets
Bulgaria's competition regulator said on Thursday that it has declined to open proceedings on a new notification from Sofia-based Inercom about its deal to acquire the Bulgarian assets of Czech energy group CEZ as there are ongoing proceedings in relation to the same deal. Both Inercom and CEZ are currently challenging in court the regulator's decision to ban the deal, which means the initial proceedings cannot be closed, the Commission for Protection of Competition said in a statement. In July, the anti-trust body banned the deal, saying it will lead to the establishing of a dominant position on the photovoltaic energy generation market. Later that month Inercom and CEZ appealed the decision before Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court. Last month, Inercom said it has sold its photovoltaic business in order to address the concerns of the competition authority and asked for the start of new proceedings.CEZ assets in Bulgaria includes power distributor CEZ Razpredelenie [BUL:3CZ], power supplier CEZ Electro Bulgaria [BUL:1CZ], licensed electricity trader CEZ Trade Bulgaria, IT services company CEZ ICT Bulgaria, solar park Free Energy Project Oreshetz, biomass-fired power plant Bara Group and CEZ Bulgaria, which manages and coordinates the operations of the group's Bulgarian units.