Renewed interest in Bulgartabak

Livero Establishments, a Lichtenstein-registered company, has expressed an interest in buying the 79.8 percent stake in Bulgartabak owned by the Russian bank, VTB, according to a Reuters report by Tsvetelia Tsolova and Oksana Kobzeva quoting Bulgaria’s competition watchdog.

VTB acquired Bulgartabac for €100.1 million, €100,000 above the minimum asking price, when BT Invest, a company owned by VTB, was left as the only bidder in the privatization process launched by the Bulgarian government.

“The commission has received a notification for the intention of Lichtenstein-registered Livero Establishments to acquire control over Austria’s BT Invest,” Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition was quoted as saying.