The site of Bulgaria's largest steelmaker Kremikovtzi together with all its assets will be offered for sale in a closed-bid auction on September 13 this year, four months after the bankrupt steel giant was cleared for liquidation.
According to Sofia News Agency, the closed-bid auction will start at BGN 565,517,510 (about $375.75 million), which is considered far below the market price by trade unions and analysts.
The agency said that it was not immediately clear whether investors have declared interest in the sale, but in mid-July this year the Bulgarian economy minister Traicho Traikov invited ArcelorMittal to participate in the liquidation auction for Kremikovtzi.
Kremikovtzi was declared bankrupt at the end of May and cleared for liquidation in June this year, despite the numerous unsuccessful attempts of the mill's creditors and the government to reach an agreement on a plan to save the mill. Kremikovtzi's total debts amount to about BGN 1.9 billion (approx $1.26 billion), while the market value of all of its assets was estimated in September last year at BGN 837.2 million ($555.6 million).