3 local banks and 3 companies have expressed interest in financing CEZ deal (NEUTRAL)

CEZ a.s, which has signed a contract for sale of its Bulgarian assets to local company Inercom, said on Tuesday that state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank has declared interest towards refinancing the EUR 116m EBRD loan provided to CEZ Distribution, SeeNews reported citing CEZ press officer Alice Horakova. Lidovky.cz reported on Tuesday that two other Bulgarian banks have committed to lend EUR 260m in total for the acquisition while the companies Score Trade Global, Victory Trust and Euro Star have provided another EUR 187m. Euro Star is registered in Bulgaria and it is owned by the Georgians Paato Gamgoneisvili and David Mihailovic, which have recently sold the largest shopping mall in Bulgaria, Paradise Center, for EUR 252.9m. Recall that the transaction has to be approved by the Bulgarian anti-trust authority. The price of the deal was not disclosed, but previous reports put it in the EUR 315-330m range.