site.btaCentral Bank Issues Preliminary Approval for Sale of 2/3 of Municipal Bank for Just Over LV 57 Mln

Sofia, January 11 (BTA) - The Bulgarian National Bank said Thursday it has granted preliminary approval for direct acquisition by Novito Opportunities Fund AGmvK of 3,880,388 book-entry shares representing 67.6 per cent of the share capital of Municipal Bank AD. The shares are worth 57.3 million leva.

The acquisition has already been approved by the anti-trust commission and the Sofia Municipal Council.

The buyer is established in Liechtenstein and registered in its Trade Register. It is an alternative investment fund licensed and supervised by the Financial Market Authority of Liechtenstein.

All shares of the capital of the acquiring company are owned by KAYAK Fund Management AG. It is likewise an alternative investment fund licensed and supervised by the Financial Market Authority of Liechtenstein.

The central bank said that its preliminary approval was issued following an analysis of compliance with the requirements of the applicable Bulgarian laws, a review of documents and additional information provided by the applicant, and that is has also consulted the Financial Market Authority of Liechtenstein and Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security, as well as the public registers and the central bank registers.

The central bank has established that Insa Oil OOD owns non-voting shares issued by the applicant - and has warned the applicant that a conversion of these non-voting shares into voting shares will require a new approval by the BNB.

The official webpage of Insa Oil says that the company was established in 2001 and is one of the leading companies for the manufacturing and distribution of petroleum products in Bulgaria. It has own manufacturing facilities and sells to over 200 companies in Bulgaria as well as clients in Romania, Greece, Serbia and Kosovo. It trades an average of over 150,000 tones of petroleum products per year.