site.btaEurohold Officially Completes Acquisition of CEZ Assets in Bulgaria

July 27 (BTA) - Insurance company Eurohold Bulgaria AD
has officially completed the acquisition of seven subsidiaries
of Czech energy group CEZ in Bulgaria for 335 million euro, the
buyer's press office reported on Tuesday.

In Bulgaria, CEZ has been one of the three main distributors of
electricity, servicing the west of the country, including the
capital Sofia.

This is the biggest transaction in Bulgaria's energy sector in
17 years and one of the major energy deals in the region. It has
 been carried out through the Eastern European Electric company
(EEEC), which is wholly owned by Eurohold.

By acquiring and integrating the Bulgarian assets of CEZ Group,
Eurohold will be able to service over 7 million customers and
will have over 6,000 employees in 11 countries of Central,
Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The
 EEEC will operate and maintain a network of 24,971 km of
medium-voltage power lines and 32,989 km of low-voltage lines.

Eurohold Bulgaria Supervisory Board Chairman Asen Hristov
commented that the acquisition "has ensured an inflow of over
500 million euro in the Bulgarian economy if we estimate the
total value of the deal, including the price of the transaction,
 the forthcoming mandatory tender offer to the minority
shareholders in two of the acquired companies and the investment
 programme of CEZ in Bulgaria."

With the acquisition and integration of CEZ Group's local
assets, the total assets and annual revenue of the combined
insurance-and-energy company Eurohold Bulgaria are expected to
exceed 1.5 billion euro, while its earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are forecast to
reach around 120 million euro per annum. According to its
development strategy, Eurohold expects to generate annual
revenue of almost 2 billion euro and annual EBITDA of 200
million euro by 2025.

CEZ signed the 335 million euro deal with Eurohold Bulgaria back
 in June 2019. In October 2019, the Commission for Protection of
 Competition (CPC) refused to clear that transaction, finding
that merging the experience, economic resources and market
positions of the companies in the electricity and insurance
markets would considerably hinder effective competition on the
respective markets. The anti-trust watchdog suspected that the
new owner could furnish guarantees to the energy companies when
trading in electricity on the exchange. That decision was
appealed before the Sofia Administrative Court, which found a
number of irregularities and returned it to the Competition
Commission for re-examination. In late October 2020, the CPC
ultimately approved the transfer.

CEZ's assets in Bulgaria comprised the CEZ Distribution Bulgaria
 electricity distribution company, the CEZ Electro Bulgaria
power supplier, the CEZ Trade Bulgaria licensed electricity
trader, the CEZ ICT Bulgaria IT service provider, the Free
Energy Project Oreshetz solar park, the Bara Group biomass-fired
 power plant, and CEZ Bulgaria. RI/VE

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