June 21 (SeeNews) - Financial and insurance group Eurohold Bulgaria [BUL:4EH] said that it has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Czech energy group CEZ in Bulgaria for 335 million euro ($378.9 million).
Eurohold Bulgaria will finance the acquisition through both equity and debt financing, and has already mandated two global investment banks to arrange the funding for the transaction, the group said late on Thursday.
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CEZ's assets in Bulgaria comprise power utility CEZ Distribution Bulgaria [BUL:3CZ], power supplier CEZ Electro Bulgaria [BUL:1CZ], licensed electricity trader CEZ Trade Bulgaria, IT services company CEZ ICT Bulgaria, solar park Free Energy Project Oreshetz, biomass-fired power plant Bara Group and CEZ Bulgaria.
The deal is subject to approval from Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition.
If Eurohold completes the transaction, it intends to keep the current CEZ Bulgaria management to ensure a smooth transition.
As at 8:30 CET on Friday, Eurohold Bulgaria's shares traded flat at 1.87 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
By the same hour, CEZ Distribution Bulgaria shares traded 20.54% higher at 270 levs, while the other BSE-listed CEZ unit - CEZ Electro Bulgaria traded 4.42% up at 23,600 levs.
CEZ and Eurohold Bulgaria launched exclusive talks over the deal in April.
CEZ Group launched the procedure for selling its assets in Bulgaria in 2017 and signed an agreement with Inercom in February 2018. According to data from CEZ Group's annual financial statement for 2017, the deal with Inercom valued the group's Bulgarian assets at some 326 million euro.
The deal with Inercom was scrapped earlier this year as it failed to win anti-trust approval.
($ = 0.8841 euro)