Portanero Invest, KGAL ESPF 4 get nod to buy Samsung's Bulgarian PV assets

Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition said on Friday that it has allowed Czechia-based Portanero Invest and Luxembourg-registered KGAL ESPF 4 Holding to acquire Samsung C&T Corporation's seven photovoltaic (PV) power stations in Bulgaria.

The combined market share of the seven plants and the financial groups to which Portanero Invest and KGAL belong does not exceed 5% both in terms of installed PV capacity and output, the competition regulator said in its decision.

Portanero Invest has set up a subsidiary, which has signed agreements to acquire the seven solar parks. KGAL ESPF 4 Holding has an agreement with Portanero Invest to acquire a 60% stake in the recently-established company.

Micronix Group, the end owner of Portanero Invest, controls two solar parks and one biogas plant near the city of Vidin, in northwestern Bulgaria. The two solar parks have an installed capacity of 2.36 MW and 2.88 MW, respectively, while the biogas plant has an installed capacity of 1.5 MW. They account for 0.53% of the installed PV capacity in Bulgaria.

Samsung's seven solar parks - Agriplam, Veselino Energy, Ecoenergy Solar, Ecosolar, Manageproject, Solar Park and Fishtrade, have a combined installed capacity of 42.99 MW. The plants, all located near the city of Pleven, constitute 4.12% of all installed PV capacity in the country.

Micronix Group's plants in Bulgaria formed 0.55% of PV electricity generated in Bulgaria last year, while Samsung's plants accounted for 4.18%.

The seven solar parks currently owned by Samsung C&T Corporation had a combined turnover of 25.1 million levs ($14.6 million/12.8 million euro) last year, while Micronix Group's plants generated 4.8 million levs.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)

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