Bulgaria - Citigroup chosen as consultant for sale of Bulgartabac..

February 26, 2010 - In early February 2010, four companies submitted bids to advise the sell-off of Bulgaria's state-run tobacco producer Bulgartabac Holding. (Bulgaria - sale of Bulgartabac coming - selection of a consultant..)

Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. has been chosen as the consultant for the sale of Bulgarian state tobacco company Bulgartabac. The Bulgarian Privatization Agency announced Thursday, February 25th that Citigroup Global Markets Limited had been picked after four companies had originally bid for the consultant role including a tie-in between KBC Securities and Tokushev & Co, Raiffeisen investments- Kamburov and Renaissance Securities.

Citigroup Global Markets Limited represents the European investment banking arm of US-based financial services giant Citigroup. Its activities include underwriting equities and fixed-income products, equity research, and banking services for multinational corporations, middle-market enterprises, and small businesses.

At the end of last year Bulgaria’s Energy, Economy and Tourism Minister, Traicho Traikov, announced that the starting price for the state share in Bulgartabac Holding would be around EUR 100 M.

Citigroup will pocket 1.018 million euro to carry out a legal analysis, make a sell-off assessment as well as organise and maintain a webpage. It will get 1.6 per cent of Bulgartabac’s sale price.

References: Citigroup Chosen as Bulgaria Tobacco Privatization Consultant, Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), 2/25/2010; Citigroup to advise sale of Bulgaria's tobacco giant Bulgartabac, by Dnevnik.bg, The Sofia Echo, 2/26/2010.

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