Four foreign companies are interested so far in the privatisation of the heating utility in the capital city Sofia – Finnish utility company Fortum, Czech CEZ, and French companies Dalkia and Electricite de France, according to deputy economy minister Anna Yaneva quoted by Klasa Daily . The municipality of Sofia owns 58% of the utility. The remaining stake is controlled by the economy ministry. The two has agreed to sell the full stake in the utility but no real steps are taken by now. The tender is expected to commence by November this year. The heating plant in Sofia is one of the largest energy suppliers in the country with installed steam heat and power generation capacities of 4,000 MW. The French energy company Dalkia and the Czech Electricity Company (CEZ) sent offers a year ago to repay debts of the heating utility in exchange of equities. It was announced also that BNP Paribas, probably on the behalf of another company, has also expressed interest in taking over the company.  Russia ’s energy major Gazprom is also considered among the potential candidates.