One of world's major cigarette makers Imperial Tobacco has restored its interest to the Bulgarian tobacco industry, according to a comment of a company official quoted by the local newswire Econ.bg . Imperial Tobacco has been in the shortlist of foreign investors expected to bid for the failed privatisation of the four cigarette makers controlled by Bulgartabac tobacco holding but has not filed a binding offer. Bulgartabac is now expected to auction all smaller units, including several tobacco processing factories, two cigarette makers, and the printing and paper packaging plant in Plovdiv.

The management of Bulgartabac Holding signed a contract with the local consortium of Subev&Partners, Euro-Finance and Balkan Consulting Company for advising the forthcoming sell-out of smaller units. The sale adviser will receive a fixed amount of EUR 144,496 and success fees set at 1.65% of the achieved price for each enterprise. It will have to prepare analytical reports and privatisation action plans for the cigarette packaging plant Jurii Gagarin in Plovdiv and all tobacco processing units in the holding, safe for the plant in Pleven. Most of the planned sell-offs will be operated through the local stock exchange. Privatisation of the major cigarette makers in Blagoevgrad, Sofia , Plovdiv and Stara Zagora is not envisaged at this stage.

The term for the start of the privatisation procedure coincides with the termination of the measures against fixed cigarette prices, in order for dumping cigarette imports to be avoided. 

Bulgartabac tobacco holding has signed a deal for export of cigarettes to Italy. The first order covers some 6,000 tonnes of the Victory Exclusive brand produced by Blagoevgrad BT. This is the first contract of Bulgartabac for exports to the EU market and it may play a key role in revamping the weak sales of the holding in the past several years.