THE Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) will announce its decision on the Bulgartabac Holding privatisation procedure within the next 30 days, the court said last Friday.
A five-member panel of SAC heard last Friday the case on the cassation appeals of the Privatisation Agency (PA), Tobacco Holding, Consortium Metatabac and the consortium between the Bulgarian Tobacco Capital Partners and the Dutch Clar Innis. They appealed a decision of a three-member panel of SAC overruling the choice of Tobacco Capital Partners/Clar Innis as winner in the tender for 80 per cent of the capital of Bulgartabac Holding.
A month ago the three-member panel of SAC ruled that favourable changes had taken place in the financial state of the tobacco holding and that the Privatisation Agency violated the competitive bidding procedures by not asking the bidders to improve the parameters of their offers. In the reasoning to its decision, the three-member panel cited the financial reports of the tobacco holding, made according to the International Accounting Standards (IAS). The PA said that current Bulgarian accounting law recognises reports made by the Bulgarian Accounting Standards (BAS).
A month ago the three-member panel of SAC instructed the Privatisation Agency to ask the candidates to improve their offers for the tobacco holding and rank the bidders again. Apart from the PA, the decision of SAC was appealed by three of the four bidders for Bulgartabac. The fourth bidder - Rossbulgartabac, presented in court last Friday objections to the cassation appeals.
The prosecutor on the case, Ivo Ignatov, declared himself against the SAC decision and in support of the PA. The decision of SAC in its part overruling the decision of the PA citing favourable changes in the financial state of Bulgartabac is ungrounded, Ignatov said. Conclusions about favourable changes in the financial state of Bulgartabac Holding are within the competence of the PA alone. Such conclusions made by other bodies are interference in the PA's work, the prosecutor said. However, he described the cassation appeals of the bidders as unjustified.
Three bidders competed in the tender for Bulgartabac Holding: Tobacco Capital Partners/Clar Innis consortium supported by Deutsche Bank, the Russian Rossbulgartabac consortium and the Austrian Tobacco Holding consortium. The Matatabac consortium also submitted an offer, which, however, was disqualified by the Privatisation Agency.
A five-member panel of SAC heard last Friday the case on the cassation appeals of the Privatisation Agency (PA), Tobacco Holding, Consortium Metatabac and the consortium between the Bulgarian Tobacco Capital Partners and the Dutch Clar Innis. They appealed a decision of a three-member panel of SAC overruling the choice of Tobacco Capital Partners/Clar Innis as winner in the tender for 80 per cent of the capital of Bulgartabac Holding.
A month ago the three-member panel of SAC ruled that favourable changes had taken place in the financial state of the tobacco holding and that the Privatisation Agency violated the competitive bidding procedures by not asking the bidders to improve the parameters of their offers. In the reasoning to its decision, the three-member panel cited the financial reports of the tobacco holding, made according to the International Accounting Standards (IAS). The PA said that current Bulgarian accounting law recognises reports made by the Bulgarian Accounting Standards (BAS).
A month ago the three-member panel of SAC instructed the Privatisation Agency to ask the candidates to improve their offers for the tobacco holding and rank the bidders again. Apart from the PA, the decision of SAC was appealed by three of the four bidders for Bulgartabac. The fourth bidder - Rossbulgartabac, presented in court last Friday objections to the cassation appeals.
The prosecutor on the case, Ivo Ignatov, declared himself against the SAC decision and in support of the PA. The decision of SAC in its part overruling the decision of the PA citing favourable changes in the financial state of Bulgartabac is ungrounded, Ignatov said. Conclusions about favourable changes in the financial state of Bulgartabac Holding are within the competence of the PA alone. Such conclusions made by other bodies are interference in the PA's work, the prosecutor said. However, he described the cassation appeals of the bidders as unjustified.
Three bidders competed in the tender for Bulgartabac Holding: Tobacco Capital Partners/Clar Innis consortium supported by Deutsche Bank, the Russian Rossbulgartabac consortium and the Austrian Tobacco Holding consortium. The Matatabac consortium also submitted an offer, which, however, was disqualified by the Privatisation Agency.
