Four to bid for Bulgaria Air
Four to bid for Bulgaria AirPrivately owned Greek carrier Aegean Airlines and three other companies are vying to bid in a tender for the sale of flag carrier Bulgaria Air.
The Privatisation Agency announced this (PA) on August 3.
“Four companies have submitted documents in line with the pre-qualification requirements in the tender for the sale of 30 159 shares, or nearly 99.99 per cent of the capital of Bulgaria Air,” the PA said in a statement on its website.
Along with Aegean Airlines, US-based investment fund York Capital Management, Bulgarian-registered company Air One-Bulgaria and Bulgaria’s Balkan Hemus Group, owner of air carrier Hemus Air, have filed documents in the tender, the agency said.
Austrian Airlines, UK asset management and aviation consultancy Trans Atlantic Aviation and Italy’s second-largest airline Air One, which also bought tender documents last month, have withdrawn from the race.
The PA was expected to make a short-list of bidders that would be invited to place non-binding offers by August 17.
Bulgaria launched a tender for the sale of Bulgaria Air in June, looking for a strategic or a financial investor to secure the company’s competitiveness after the country’s European Union entry, scheduled for 2007.
Bulgaria Air’s pre-tax profit dropped last year by 71 per cent to 500 000 leva.
The national air carrier accounts for 30 per cent of the air travel tickets sold in Bulgaria and for about 25 per cent of the revenue from ticket sales.
Bulgaria Air succeeded the country’s flag carrier Balkan Airlines, which was declared bankrupt in 2002, after a nearly two-year struggle to repay debts totalling about $100 million.
