The parliament approved yesterday the government-sponsored strategy for privatisation of the state sea shipping company Navibulgare with a solid majority of 128 votes against 42 opponents. The draft envisages a closed-bidding tender for 70% of the company. The remaining 30% stake will be offered to the new majority owner at a later stage. Part of the residual shares could be floated on the stock exchange but only in case that they are not purchased by the main stakeholder. Only strategic investors would be allowed to bid for the 70% stake. The definition for strategic investor includes legal entities with rented shipping volumes of at least 1.3mn tonnes of dead weight on time-charter contracts for each of the last 3 years or consortiums in which at least 70% of the equity capital is held by a company meeting the above mentioned requirements for strategic investor. It is rumoured that the strategy is prepared in a way that will favour a consortium of local shipping and forwarding companies, most likely linked to the country’s largest holding company Chimimport.

It has been recently reported that two powerful Greek shipping companies, Tsakos Group and Avin International, have expressed interest in the privatisation of Navibulgare. Firms linked to Germany ’s Nordbank are also expected to take part in the tender. Unnamed parliamentary sources quoted by Kapital Weekly evaluate the forthcoming deal for 70% of Navibulgare at some USD 500mn.

The sea shipping company Navibulgare reports a total asset value of BGN 959mn (EUR 490mn) in the company’s consolidated report for last year. The equity capital is booked at BGN 890mn as of the end of the year. The net consolidated profit of the company has dropped 55.5% y/y to BGN 18.6% on flat net sales of BGN 433mn last year. Navibulgare is managing a commercial fleet of 71 vessels and expects 3 news ships from the local producer Bulyard Shipping Industry. A few days ago, Navibulgare has sold out its residual stake of 25% in Bulyard Shipping Industry at the price of USD 5.56mn.