BULGARIA WAITS ON FINAL BIDS FOR DZI

Bulgaria’s privatisation agency has invited three candidates for an 80% holding in the country’s state-owned insurer DZI to submit final bids by July 1, a government spokesperson has confirmed. The three remaining bidders have already submitted indicative bids, which were made by mid-April. The agency declined to name those still involved in the tender process, but local press reports have suggested that market-leading Czech insurer Ceská pojistovna, locally based insurance group Energia and Allianz Bulgaria, a wholly owned subsidiary of the German insurer, remain. Of these three, only Ceská has formally confirmed its involvement. The state’s latest attempt to sell DZI follows the collapse late last year of a deal to sell a 67% stake to a consortium led by Dutch-based TBI Holdings.