October 18 (SeeNews) - Shares in cellulose producer Svilosa [BUL:3MZ] posted a fourth consecutive winning session on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, after last Friday its majority owned A.R.U.S. Holding announced it will launch a buyout bid for the 6.74% stake it does not control.
Svilosa shares added 4.22% to a closing price of 4.94 levs on Thursday, extending its gains since the buyout offer announcement to 7.39%.
A.R.U.S. Holding said it intends to price its buyout bid at 4.70 levs per share, which led to an outcry from minority shareholders. The Financial Supervision Commission has not yet allowed the publication of the offer.
At the same time, shares in power distributor CEZ Distribution Bulgaria lost 3.36% to 230 levs. During the trading session Bulgaria's anti-trust regulator said it is declining to consider Sofia-based Inercom's updated notification for its deal to acquire the Bulgarian assets of Czech energy group CEZ, including a majority stake in CEZ Distribution.
The competition regulator banned the deal in July upon the initial notification, saying it will lead to the establishing of a dominant position on the photovoltaic energy generation market. The decision was challenged in court by both CEZ Distribution and Inercom, which means the initial procedings can not be closed in order to allow the regulator to open new ones. Meanwhile, Inercom sold its photovoltaic business to address the regulator's concerns.
The drop in CEZ Distribution share price hit the wider BGBX40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the Sofia bourse. The index closed the session 0.36% lower at 119.36 points.
The blue-chip SOFIX index fell 0.34% to 608.16 points, as Trace Group Hold [BUL:T57] shares lost 2.44% to 3.2 levs.
Trace Group Hold was followed by shares in drug maker Sopharma - the largest company by market capitalisation on the regulated market of the bourse, which declined 1.27% to 3.9 levs.
Bulgarian Real Estate Fund REIT (BREF) [BUL:5BU] posted the third sharpest decline among blue chips on Thursday, ending 1.04% lower at 1.91 levs.
The decline in BREF's share price also undercut the BGREIT index, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts (REITs). The index ended 0.31% lower at 116.80 points.
The BGTR30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, fell 0.10% to 507.72 points.
Total trading turnover on the regulated market of the Sofia bourse fell to just over 253,000 levs ($148,900/129,400 euro) on Thursday from 616,300 levs on Wednesday.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)