Bulgarian business conglomerate Alfa Finance Holding said on Thursday it has become a direct majority owner in Solarpro Holding, a local photovoltaic (PV) panels maker which it used to control through its mineral extracting and processing arm Kaolin.
In June, Kaolin, 67.85%-owned by Alfa Finance Holding, offered to its shareholders to swap one Kaolin share for 26 shares in Solarpro Holding.
At the time, the listed Solarpro Holding was controlled indirectly by Alfa Finance Holding through the 85.5% stake that Kaolin held in the PV panels maker alongside minority shareholders Nikolay Berov (6.5%) and Rumyana Georgieva (6.5%).
"Alfa Finance Holding has exercised its right to swap Kaolin for Solarpro Holding shares and as a result it has acquired 27,564,888 shares, or 58.94% in Solarpro Holding," Alfa Finance Holding said in a statement.
Mauve Clover, Kaolin's second largest shareholder, has also recently swapped Kaolin for Solarpro Holding shares and now controls over 5.0% in Solarpro Holding, the statement added.
The deadline for Kaolin shareholders to file an application for the share swap expires on August 31.
Solarpro Holding has said it will aim to become a leader in PV panels manufacturing in Europe and the largest system integrator of PV power plants in Bulgaria and the neighbouring countries.
The holding company's three main lines of business span manufacture and installation of PV panels, production of technological equipment for PV panel manufacturers and construction, operation and maintenance of PV power plants and other renewable energy generation facilities.
In July, Solarpro sold a solar park project near Malko Tarnovo, in the country's southeast, to local company United Solar.
Earlier this year, Solarpro Holding started deploying a 5.0 megawatts-peak (MWp) solar power capacity near Devnya, in northeast Bulgaria.
Last year, it completed the construction of a solar plant in the village of Yankovo, in northeastern Bulgaria, delivering an installed capacity of 2.4 MWp.
The company (www.solarpro.bg), set up in 2007, also has a PV panels factory in Silistra, on the Danube river.
Solarpro Holding shares started trading on the Sofia bourse in June.
Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!
