A German-Bulgarian consortium KG Maritime Shipping made a final offer of 440.1 million leva (225.019 mln euros) for the privatization of 70 per cent of the capital of NaviBulgar. The offer was opened in a public ceremony Thursday at the Privatization Agency (PA).

Thus, the entire NaviBulgar has been assessed at 628,714,286 million leva (321,456,510 euros), PA's Executive Director Todor Nikolov said, adding that this is a very good assessment of the company given the current situation in the sector and the financial crisis in the late 2007 and early 2008, BTA reports.

The consortium has enough guarantees to finance the transaction, Nikolov said. He said that the preliminary offer was between 380 million leva and 500 million leva.

The investments pledged by KG Maritime Shipping are fully enough to renovate NaviBulgar's fleet and to bring the vessels age under 20 years, Nikolov said. It is even possible to lower the age to under 10 years, against 12-13 years in the EU, he said.

The consortium also pledged that the average tenured sailing staff will be 2,432 people; the administration will be about 800 people. Any job cuts that will be made will be in the first two years and will concern normal retirements. The salaries in NaviBulgar will be increased by 15 per cent annually.

The PA is to check the offer for compliance with the criteria laid down in the privatization procedure. By two weeks it should be ready with a motivation letter to the government to endorse or reject the deal. The cabinet does not have a set deadline for its decision.

Thirty per cent of the shares in KG Maritime Shipping are held by the Bulgarian company Advance Properties owned by two brothers, Kiril and Georgi Domouschiev, who also own the BioVet Peshtera animal pharmaceuticals maker. The remaining 70 per cent in the consortium are owned by Martrade Shipping and Transport GmBH registered in Dusseldorf and the Indian Accord Ship Manager.