Sofia municipality will increase its stake in Toplofikatsiya Sofia by injecting up to 50 million leva in the heating utility to help it repay debts to stay-owned gas firm Bulgargaz, the chairperson of the economic policy committee of the Sofia city council Danail Kirilov said on October 6, as quoted by zagrada.bg website.

The city currently owns 58 per cent of Toplofikatsia's stock and its stake would increase to 75 per cent after the cash injection, which would give the municipality a bigger leeway in managing the company and marginalise the other shareholder, the Bulgarian state. Toplofikatsiya's equity currently stands at 107 million leva.

Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov has said that if the municipality were to acquire a bigger stake in the utility, the city hall would immediately “start co-generation in at least one of the Sofia thermal power plants, which work at a loss, while the rest of them will be given on competition”.

The increase of Sofia municipality’s share in Toplofikatsiya Sofia was one of the options proposed by the city hall last week as a solution to the company's mounting debt to Bulgargas, which has threatened to cancel its gas deliveries to the heating utility over the unpaid debts.

Source: zagrada.bg
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