6 Investors to Bid for Bulgarian State Railways Freight Unit

Six investors have shown interest in the privatization of the cargo unit of Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) company, according to Emil Karanikolov, Executive Director of the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Agency (PPCA).

Speaking Monday for the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, just hours after the deadline for purchasing documentation for the tender, Karanikolov informed the six investors were the Sofia-based consultancy Yurista EOOD, Georgieva, Todorov & Co Law Office, lawyer Valentin Tsenov Ivanov, Grigorov & Assoc. Law Office, lawyer Todor Ivanov Angelov and First Investment Bank, and the private railway freight carrier Bulgarian Railway Company (BRC), owned by Romania's largest private railway company, Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR).

Except for BRC, all other bidders for the privatization of BDZ Freight Services are represented by consultancies and law offices.

Karanikolov explained he had learned from his most recent conversations with a consultant that all investors were associations between foreign businessmen and "Bulgarian players." He stressed that there would be no privatization for just "any price."

The PPCA CEO added the criteria for bidding were lowered to the very admissible extend.

In mid-November, Bulgaria's Privatization Agency launched a second privatization procedure for BDZ's Freight Services, after the first one fell through.

The second attempt to sell the cargo unit of BDZ will only include strategic and financial investors.

The privatization of BDZ's profit making unit, Freight Services, is to secure money to cover huge debts of the company and help revive its other unit, Passenger Services.