Bulgaria’s Privatisation Agency (PA) and the Sofia Municipality Privatisation Agency, both shareholders Toplofikatsia Sofia heating utility, should sell their stakes in the company using the same criteria, according to a proposal sent to Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov on April 17, Dnevnik daily reported.

The Sofia municipality owns 58 per cent of the utility’s shares, with the rest being in the hands of the national privatisation authority. The state plans to sell 100 per cent of the shares to a strategic investor picked through a tender.

The utility is due for privatisation until June 2009, the municipality’s secretary Rossen Zheliazkov said. Some lawyers argue that there are legal obstacles preventing the municipality from delegating its sales rights to the PA and argued that amendments to the Privatisation Act might be necessary to clarify the issue. According to other lawyers, the two agencies can go ahead with concurrent sale of the stakes, as long as they make the final decision by consensus.

If it turns out that legal changes are necessary, the procedure will be delayed, Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Ana Yaneva said. So far, the candidates to have taken interest in the Sofia heating utility are Czech CEZ, Dalkia of France, Bulgarian businessman Hristo Kovachki and E.ON of Germany.