On a special meeting of the shareholders of Bulgarian stock exchange – Sofia AD (BSE) a decision for purchase of all stocks of Independent Bulgarian energy exchange EAD (IBEX) was approved. BSE will acquire 100% of the capital of IBEX. The financial resource will be provided from the sales of government securities owned by the stock exchange.
The price of the stocks was negotiated to the amount of 5 200 000 BGN. Firstly 4 000 000 BNG will be paid when the Contract for transfer of stocks is signed and the rest will be deposited on three equal tranches of 400 000 BNG at the end of the sixth, twelve and eighteenth month.
From the meeting minutes it is clear that the shareholders agree the transfer of stocks to be made immediately after the sum of 4 000 000 BGN is transferred to BEH’s account. The deal must be concluded before the deadline set by the European commission – 31.10.2017 and after an approval from The Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Agency and the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC). CPC is already informed about the transfer of ownership of IBEX.
The economic benefits foreseen by BSE from acquiring IBEX are: IBEX is the only energy exchange in Bulgaria and it operates as a natural monopoly. The income from trading fees is proportional to the turnover. The business plan of IBEX for the period 2017-2021 and the forecast for the generated electricity till the end of next year show an increase in the volumes generated and traded through the exchange.
The analysis of the financial state of IBEX prepared by BSE shows that the turnover and the traded volumes are constantly increasing. The total turnover of IBEX for 2016 is 168 578 739 BGN and only for the first seven months from the beginning of 2017 the total turnover has increased to 184 856 482 BGN, which is around 10% more than the whole 2016. The published annual financial report of IBEX shows net profit of 745 000 BGN. Considering the higher turnovers on the market in 2017 compared to 2016, it is expected that the net profit of IBEX will exceed the forecast. The published annual financial report of IBEX for 2016 indicates that the assets of IBEX are 17 310 00 BGN and the equity capital is 2 120 000 BGN.
According to the evaluation prepared by Crowe Horwath (E F Bulgaria EOOD) IBEX is worth between 4 831 000 BGN and 9 682 000 BGN. The negotiated price between IBEX and BSE is 5 200 000 BGN which is closer to the lower price estimate.
The transfer of ownership of IBEX was part of the commitment of Bulgarian energy holding (BEH) related with the case AT.39767 –BEH ELECTRICITY of the European commission. The initial proposal was BEH to transfer the ownership to the Ministry of Finance.
Source: Publics.bg, Bulgarian stock exchange