looking at some power stations buys

HD Firms vie for Bulgarian power plant in sale rerun
WC 410 words
PD 5 September 2006
ET 10:35 PM
SN Reuters News
SC LBA
LA English
CY (c) 2006 Reuters Limited

LP SOFIA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Seventeen companies have bought tender documents for a 400 megawatt power and heating plant in a renewed utility selloff in Bulgaria's Danube port of Rousse, the privatisation agency said on Tuesday.

It is the Balkan country's second attempt to sell the Rousse plant, part of a larger strategy to put utilities into private hands to boost public services and liberalise its energy market ahead of planned 2007 EU entry.


TD Germany's E.ON , French Dalkia, a unit of Veolia Environnement , Austria's Verbund , Czech CEZ , Slovenia's Holding Slovenske Elektrarne, U.S. Contour Global and Australia's WorleyParsons' Bulgarian unit bought documents, the agency said in a statement.

Other prospective bidders include Bulgarian Overgaz, 50-percent controlled by Russia's Gazprom , Russia's Inter RAO, majority owned by Unified Energy System , Rosatomstroy and Swiss-registered Mechel International Holding.

Bulgarian companies Brickel, Enemona, Bulgarian Energy Group, Finance Engineering Energy, Risk Engineering and Toploenergo Bulgaria have also shown initial interest.

The sell-off agency has also split a 41 megawatt heating unit from Rousse and will sell that in a second tender after an attempt to sell them as one unit collapsed earlier this year.

In that attempt, Russia's Unified Energy System won a tender to buy Rousse for 178 million euros ($228.2 million), but it withdrew from the negotiations that followed.

Bulgaria's Socialist-led government then scra*ped the tender completely in February as it said the 36 million euros in cash and investment offered by the second bidder, CEZ, was too low.

The bidders will be shortlisted by Oct 4 and those eligible will be invited to file offers to buy 100 percent of the plant on Nov 3, the sell-off agency said.

The Rousse plant's sales increased by 20 percent to 55 million levs ($36.14 million) last year, but it ended the year with a pretax loss of 8.6 million levs. In 2004 it posted a profit of 214,000 levs.

Sofia hopes to close soon a deal with Greek PPC for the sale of a 630 megawatt coal-fired plant at Bobov Dol and has opened sales of heating utilities in Plovdiv and Varna. [20060905 123547 GMT]