Bulgartabac Holding, the Bulgarian tobacco monopoly, sold 78 per cent in its Plovdiv cigarette factory on July 16 for 30.8 million leva on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The bulk of the share package fetched 36.57 leva per share on average, significantly higher than the reference price of 24.9 leva.
The buyer of the larger share package will be revealed after the transactions are processed by the Central Depository.
Over 868,000 shares in the Plovdiv cigarette maker changed hands on July 16 in more than 100 trades. The average price was just over 31.6 leva per share. The stock closed at 26.72 levs.
On July 14, Bulgartabac sold on the bourse its equity in the Stara Zagora cigarette factory for 18 mln levs.
There is no clarity on the future fate of the remaining two Bulgartabac cigarette factories, in Sofia and Blagoevgrad. Unlike the Plovdiv and Stara Zagora units, which have long operated at a loss, the other two factories are well in the black and would be likely to fetch much higher prices and attract strategic investors if put on sale.
