January 2 (SeeNews) - Monoceros Ltd, registered in the United Arab Emirates, has acquired a 24% stake in Bulgartabac Holding [BUL:BTH] from Liechtenstein-based Woodford Establishment, the Bulgarian diversified group said.
Monoceros acquired 1,768,133 shares in the Bulgarian tobacco and trading group after Woodford Establishment divested the same amount of shares on December 22, Bulgartabac Holding said in a bourse filing on Friday.
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The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Monoceros is an early-stage investor and proprietary trading firm headquartered in the Cayman Islands, with a portfolio chiefly made up of cryptocurrency and AI technology companies, its website shows.
Woodford Establishment was the Bulgarian holding's second largest investor as of the end of 2022, Bulgartabac's most recently published annual report shows. The largest investor is UAE-registered company Gifted Master, with 24.10% stake, while UAE-registered Wardia holds 15.23% and Lichtenstein-registered Stiga Ansalt owns 14.75%.
In 2022, Bulgartabac Holding swung to a consolidated net profit of 36.1 million levs ($20.2 million/18.45 million euro) compared to a consolidated net loss of 70.6 million levs in the prior year, the annual report shows. Total operating revenue increased to 271.5 million levs from 187.1 million levs as revenue from sales jumped 40% to 252.7 million levs, while expenses shrank by about 7% to 225.2 million levs in 2022.
In 2017, the group sold its biggest cigarette brands for more than 100 million euro ($109.7 million) to British American Tobacco and has since diversified its investments.
Bulgartabac Holding's stock has erased 10.6% of its value in the past 12 months. The company has a current market capitalisation of 62.6 million levs.
Shares in Bulgartabac Holding traded 1.19% higher at 8.50 levs as at 1249 CET on Tuesday, bourse data showed.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)