The Financial Supervision Commission announced Friday that it has started a check into the deal for the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC).

The announcement follows a report by the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) that AIG Global Investment Group had acquired 90 per cent of BTC through Nef Telecom Bulgaria, the financial
supervision authority said.

The Financial Supervision Commission said its check is aimed to establish the parties in the transactions and the structure of ownership prior to the deal.

In its announcement of the deal, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange said August 17 that the 90 per cent stake (259,889,057 shares) sold for 2,770 million leva, making a per-share price of 10.70 leva.

There were two transactions in BTC shares. The first transaction, between clients of Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, was the sale of a 65 per cent stake (187,697,125 shares) for 2,000 million leva, dealers said. The second transaction, made through the Economic and Investment Bank, was the sale of a 25 per cent stake (72,191,932 shares) for 772,450,000 leva.

On May 3, AIG Global Investment Group signed an agreement with Novator and Viva Ventures on the purchase of the latter's 65 per cent stake in BTC. The acquisition cost per share is 11.25 leva (5.75 euro), or 2,112 million leva (1,080 million euro) for the 65 per cent stake, including the recently offered dividend of 0.55 leva (0.28 euro) per share. This brings BTC's total capital
value to 3,249 million leva (1,661 million euro). After the dividend for 2006 is paid out, the price per share is 10.70 leva (5.47 euro).

Also in May, AIG said it was ready to shortly acquire a further 25 per cent stake in BTC as part of the deal.

AIG Investments deals with asset management, with capabilities in equity, fixed income, hedge funds, private equity and real estate.

Novator is a London-based investment firm founded and led by the international investor and entrepreneur Thor Bjorgolfsson. Novator's investment portfolio is focused around three main
sectors: Telecommunications, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services. It manages over 7,000 million euro in assets.