Baltic States Cut Energy Ties with Russia, Join EU Power Grid
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have officially disconnected from Russia’s electricity grid and successfully integrated into the European Union’s power network
An attempt by the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) to raise EUR 650 M through a tender has failed and now the state-owned will move to direct talks with interested banks, Deputy Energy Minister Nikolay Nikolov said on Thursday.
In the tender process, BEH has tried to raise funds through a loan or bond issue to enable its heavily indebted subsidiary National Electricity Company (NEK) to repay debt owed to the Bulgarian units of U.S.-based AES Corp. and ContourGlobal.
In turn, AES Galabovo and ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 coal-fired power plants will repay debt they owe to coal mines and other suppliers and will cut the price at which they sell their electricity to NEK.
Bulgaria cancelled the tender procedure because both candidates, which submitted binding bids to arrange a bond issue and provide bridge financing ahead of it, had asked the Bulgarian government to extend state guarantees on the debt – a requirement rejected by Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov.
One of the bidders is a consortium of Citibank, HSBC, ING, Societe Generale and Unicredit. The second one is Italian investment bank IMI, part of Intesa Sanpaolo group.
Other banks that have expressed initial interest include Raiffeisen, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, Reuters reported, citing two inside sources.
In September, BEH invited potential candidates to lend it EUR 650 M or arrange a bond issue and extend a bridge loan, to be repaid from proceeds from the bond.
The only candidate to extend a loan which had shown initial interest didn’t submit a bid by October 26 deadline. Out of the 12 candidates which had shown initial interest to arrange a bond issue only two submitted bids.
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has passed a law allowing the purchase of two Russian-made nuclear reactors originally intended for Bulgaria's Belene Nuclear Power Plant
Ukraine's parliament has given the green light for the acquisition of two nuclear reactors initially intended for Bulgaria's Belene Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)
For the ninth consecutive year (excluding 2022), the electrical industry remains the largest contributor to Bulgaria's exports, as reported by the Bulgarian Association of Electrical Engineering and Electronics (BASEL)
European natural gas prices have climbed above €55 per megawatt-hour for the first time in 16 months, driven by colder temperatures across the continent that are increasing demand for heating fuel
Serbian oil and gas company NIS, controlled by Russia’s Gazprom, is considering exiting its operations in Bulgaria and Romania due to ongoing difficulties in both markets
The Russian company Lukoil initiated the process of selling its Bulgarian assets in June last year, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov announced during a parliamentary hearing
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