'Bulgaria's Petrol gets antitrust approval to acquire seven local companies.'

September18 (SeeNews) -

Bulgarian fuel retailer Petrol [BUL:PET] has been authorized to fully acquire seven local companies that lease some filling stations in its network throughout the country, the antitrust service said.

Petrol will acquire Prima Consult Property, Prima Land Property, Prima Assets Bulgaria, Crystal Assets Bulgaria, Prima Assets Trade, Crystal Assets Property and Crystal Assets Trade, the Competition Protection Commission (CPC) said in a statement last week.

The value of the deal, which was filed for approval in early August, has not been disclosed.

Crystal Assets Property and Crystal Assets Trade are subsidiaries of Crystal Asset Management, while the other five companies are owned by Prima Consult Industry.

The regulator said the deal does not change the structure of the market, as Petrol has retained control over the management and resources of the filling stations since 2010.

The ownership of these fueling stations will significantly simplify Petrol's decision-making process regarding planned investments, renovation of facilities and other aspects of fueling station management, the antitrust regulator said in a document.

Petrol, which has 17 subsidiaries mainly involved in fuel trading and storage, operates more than 300 fueling stations in''Bulgaria.

According to a recent interim financial report, Petrol turned to a combined net loss of approximately BGN 6 million ($ 3.3 million / EUR 3.1 million) in the first half of 2023, compared to a combined net profit excluding minority interest of BGN 105,000 for the same period a year earlier.