Sofia signs draft for sale of Varna power plant to CEZ
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria signed a draft contract yesterday to sell its Varna thermal power plant to Czech utility CEZ for 346 million euros ($418.8 million) in cash and investments. The Czech utility will pay 206 million euros in cash for 100 percent in the 1,260-megawatt Varna plant, Bulgaria’s second-largest of its kind, and invest another 140 million in a capital hike and various other energy sector investments. CEZ originally placed second in a tender last year to buy the generator, but it was allowed to start acquisition talks after the top bidder, Russia’s Unified Energy System (UES), withdrew its 579-million-euro bid this year. The draft contract must now be approved by the supervisory board of Bulgaria’s privatization agency, whose head said he hoped the deal would not be a repeat of the collapsed talks with UES. «I am attending, for the second time, the signing of a draft contract for the Varna plant. I hope it will be the last,» said Todor Nikolov, executive director of the privatization agency. Nikolov said CEZ and Bulgarian state utility NETC are still discussing long-term power-purchasing agreements which must be worked out before the final contract is signed. But he added that by signing the draft contract, the government had given a clear signal that it wants the deal to go through. «We hope that our colleagues from NETC will reach an agreement with CEZ shortly so the deal can be closed and payments made at the end of the year,» he said.
