Toplofikatsiya Sofia will be sold entirely through the Sofia Municipal Privatisation Agency (SMPA) and the state would be involved only at an expert level, Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov said at a seminar about the Sofia budget for 2008.

Sofia municipality is majority stakeholder in Toplofikatsiya Sofia with 58 per cent, while the state owns 42 per cent.

Borissov said there was a lot of interest in the privatisation of the largest heating company in the country and "five companies" had expressed their interest in the procedure.

"We reached an agreement with the Economy and Energy Ministry to let SMPA handle the entire privatisation. The state will send its representatives for the procedure," mediapool.bg quoted Borissov as saying.

Borissov guaranteed the municipal council would have the final word in the privatisation procedure, "if we don't get at least 45 to 50 votes we will not do anything," Borissov said. Sofia's municipal council has a total of 61 members.

The two most important factors, according to Borissov, would be a high enough price and the experience of the company buying Toplofikatsiya Sofia.

"We will insist on sufficient clauses for post-privatisation control in the contract for the sale. Most larger privatisation projects in Bulgaria have failed because of a lack of these clauses," Borissov said.

Sofia municipality and the state have been discussing a possible sale of Toplofikatsiya, while it amounted a debt to its gas provider of 200 million leva and an even larger bad debt from its clients.