I truly hope that Deutsche Bank will not withdraw from Bulgaria, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Nikolay Vassilev said February 20.

He underlined that he personally will continue to make efforts to keep Deutsche Bank in Bulgaria.

The statement followed local press reports of the warning issued by Deutsche Bank-linked German and Austrian investors that they will withdraw from Bulgaria should the President veto the act. The investors cited insecurity as the main reason for their decision.

The president was given a fifteen-day time window to veto or not the amendments. Should he fail to exercise his right to return the bill for further consideration by the MPs, the government will be able to get the act together and push with the sale of tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac.

Bulgartabac Holding Company is one of the fifteen key privatisation deals, which were exempted from judicial control when Parliament voted conclusively the amendments to the Privatisation Act February 7.

Under the cabinet-moved amendments to the Privatisation Act the Cabinet will select the buyers of companies relevant to national security, will set deadline for conclusion of the contracts, as well as their terms. The successful bidder will be named by the Cabinet and then approved by Parliament.

On January 15 Bulgaria's Privatisation Agency asked only two of the bidders for Bulgartabac, Russia's consortium Rosbulgartabac and Austria's Tobacco Holding GmbH, to confirm the validity of their bids for an 80% stake in Bulgaria's tobacco giant.

The third candidate, Tobacco Capital Partners, which was named preferred buyer of tobacco monopoly, was not mentioned in the statement, which prompted talks it might have been disqualified.

Tobacco Capital Partners was set up exclusively to participate in the privatization procedure of Bulgartabac in consortium with Clar Inns, 100 percent owned by Deutsche Bank.