Anti-Trust Watchdog Clears Acquisition of Bulgaria's Kaolin by Germany's Quartzwerke

Bulgaria's Commission on Protection of Competition (KZK) has cleared the acquisition of mining company Kaolin by German Quartzwerke.

The deal for the acquisition of a 67.32% stake in Kaolin AD by Alfa Finance Holding AD was sealed in end-December 2012.

According to reports of mediapool.bg, the deal allows the group owned by Ivo Prokopiev to settle a debt to Alfa Bank and rescue the media group including the Capital and Capital daily newspapers.

The decision of KZK, adopted on February 13, says that the deal is not expected to result in vertical or conglomerate effects because Quartzwerke has not functioned on the Bulgarian market yet.

Bulgaria's anti-trust watchdog says that the deal will distort competition on the relevant markets.

The approval of KZK is one of the conditions for the finalization of the deal

Alfa Finance Holding AD expects a final sale price of BGN 3.50 – 4.30 per share, with no explicit agreement on the matter.

Quartzwerke and its subsidiaries specialize in extracting, processing and refining industrial minerals.

The company is primarily active in the extraction, processing and refining of industrial minerals, particularly quartz, kaolin, feldspar, wollastonite and mica, in Germany and Central Europe.

Kaolin is one of the main suppliers of limestone for desulphurization facilities of the two private coal-fired power plants at the Maritsa Iztok complex.

The company produces silica sand, limestone, dolomite, chamotte and feldspar.

Alfa Finance Holding is an industrial and financial group with four main business lines: industrial minerals, financial services, real estate and clean and renewable energy.