ALL three failed candidate buyers of Bulgartabac Holding – Consortium Metatabac, Tobacco Holding and Rosbulgartabac – filed complaints against the privatisation procedure in the past week.
The complaints of the first two bidders were submitted last Thursday and Rosbulgartabac filed its objection on Monday. The Privatisation Agency (PA) has to send the complaints and its response to the Supreme Administrative Court. The PA said it would take the necessary steps for sending the appeals to the Supreme Administrative Court within three days after their filing, as required by the law, by Wednesday.
Rosbulgartabac and Tobacco Holding are appealing against the selection of Tobacco Capital Partners as exclusive buyer of Bulgartabac.
All of the 110 million euro for Bulgartabac Holding will be paid in cash, the PA said Monday, denying media reports that part of the price will be paid in paper issued against Mineralbank’s debt to Banco Exterior de Espana and Italy’s National Export Credit Agency.
Payments in papers are possible following approval by the Ministry of Finance, the PA said.
“When denationalising strategic companies and natural monopolies, the PA follows a policy of cash payments on the deals and minimising the number of deals admitting payment with financial instruments,” the agency said.
Moreover, it is impossible for part of the price for Bulgartabac Holding to be paid in papers as no such options are envisaged in the final offers of the four prospective buyers, the PA said.
The PA is currently holding negotiations with the chosen buyer, Tobacco Capital Partners, on the technical editing of the draft privatisation contract and the draft shareholding agreement.
Bank guarantees have been provided for the purchase of an average of 47 000 tons of tobacco a year by Bulgartabac Holding, PA executive director Apostol Apostolov assured the leaders of the two largest trade unions – Zhelyazko Hristov of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and Konstantin Trenchev of Podkrepa Labour Confederation. The meeting on Monday was also attended by the leaders of the sector organisations of tobacco workers with the two trade unions.
The deal with Tobacco Capital Partners provides no guarantees of the number of cigarettes to be made in Bulgaria beyond the amount of 20 000 to 25 000 million cigarettes, Hristov said. In response to trade union demands that the buyer guarantees the payment of wage arrears, the PA said that this was not a subject of the negotiations and is not mentioned in the final offer, Hristov said. He specified that an agreement signed with all prospective buyers, including Tobacco Capital Partners, obliged the buyer to pay all wage arrears upon becoming owner of Bulgartabac Holding.
Regarding the preliminary letter sent by the agency to the prospective buyers setting the condition for preserving 6 000 jobs, the PA said it had used estimates by experts in the tobacco industry in specifying the number. This is a final condition of the deal, According to Hristov, Apostolov offered that the 1.8 million leva owed in wage arrears to workers in the sector be sought from the Ministry of Finance which will receive 38 million euro from the deal.
According to the CITUB leader, Apostolov admitted that the absence of representatives of the sectoral trade unions from all stages of the privatisation process was an omission that should be mended in the privatisation of the energy sector and the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company.
The meeting has clearly shown that the trade unions too should be consulted in future privatisation deals, Podkrepa leader Konstantin Trenchev said.
Representatives of Tobacco Capital Holding were expected to arrive around September 13 (today) and meet the trade unions. The meeting has to specify how many of the 6 000 jobs will be seasonal, the Podkrepa leader said.
The complaints of the first two bidders were submitted last Thursday and Rosbulgartabac filed its objection on Monday. The Privatisation Agency (PA) has to send the complaints and its response to the Supreme Administrative Court. The PA said it would take the necessary steps for sending the appeals to the Supreme Administrative Court within three days after their filing, as required by the law, by Wednesday.
Rosbulgartabac and Tobacco Holding are appealing against the selection of Tobacco Capital Partners as exclusive buyer of Bulgartabac.
All of the 110 million euro for Bulgartabac Holding will be paid in cash, the PA said Monday, denying media reports that part of the price will be paid in paper issued against Mineralbank’s debt to Banco Exterior de Espana and Italy’s National Export Credit Agency.
Payments in papers are possible following approval by the Ministry of Finance, the PA said.
“When denationalising strategic companies and natural monopolies, the PA follows a policy of cash payments on the deals and minimising the number of deals admitting payment with financial instruments,” the agency said.
Moreover, it is impossible for part of the price for Bulgartabac Holding to be paid in papers as no such options are envisaged in the final offers of the four prospective buyers, the PA said.
The PA is currently holding negotiations with the chosen buyer, Tobacco Capital Partners, on the technical editing of the draft privatisation contract and the draft shareholding agreement.
Bank guarantees have been provided for the purchase of an average of 47 000 tons of tobacco a year by Bulgartabac Holding, PA executive director Apostol Apostolov assured the leaders of the two largest trade unions – Zhelyazko Hristov of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and Konstantin Trenchev of Podkrepa Labour Confederation. The meeting on Monday was also attended by the leaders of the sector organisations of tobacco workers with the two trade unions.
The deal with Tobacco Capital Partners provides no guarantees of the number of cigarettes to be made in Bulgaria beyond the amount of 20 000 to 25 000 million cigarettes, Hristov said. In response to trade union demands that the buyer guarantees the payment of wage arrears, the PA said that this was not a subject of the negotiations and is not mentioned in the final offer, Hristov said. He specified that an agreement signed with all prospective buyers, including Tobacco Capital Partners, obliged the buyer to pay all wage arrears upon becoming owner of Bulgartabac Holding.
Regarding the preliminary letter sent by the agency to the prospective buyers setting the condition for preserving 6 000 jobs, the PA said it had used estimates by experts in the tobacco industry in specifying the number. This is a final condition of the deal, According to Hristov, Apostolov offered that the 1.8 million leva owed in wage arrears to workers in the sector be sought from the Ministry of Finance which will receive 38 million euro from the deal.
According to the CITUB leader, Apostolov admitted that the absence of representatives of the sectoral trade unions from all stages of the privatisation process was an omission that should be mended in the privatisation of the energy sector and the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company.
The meeting has clearly shown that the trade unions too should be consulted in future privatisation deals, Podkrepa leader Konstantin Trenchev said.
Representatives of Tobacco Capital Holding were expected to arrive around September 13 (today) and meet the trade unions. The meeting has to specify how many of the 6 000 jobs will be seasonal, the Podkrepa leader said.
