The administrative court in the Black Sea city of Varna said Monday it has reversed a decision by the City Hall to contribute shares it owns in the International Plovdiv Fair to the Plovdiv-based company Puldin Tourinvest AD and thus become a shareholder in the company.
Varna owns 16.3 million uncertificated shares of 1 lev each in the Plovdiv Fair, representing 29 per cent of the capital. The other shareholders are the Economy Ministry (20.63 per cent), Puldin Tourinvest (50.36 per cent) and others (0.01 per cent).
The contribution to Puldin Tourinvest would have increased the share of its majority owner, Georgi Gergov, in the Plovdiv Fair to close to 80 per cent and allowed him full control of the Fair's business.
Established in 1892, the Plovdiv Fair is the largest one in Bulgaria.
The Varna City Hall first decided, in 2017, to return the shares in the Fair to the State but that decision was never implemented. In 2021, a second decision was made by the municipal councilors to use the shares as an in-kind contribution in Puldin Tourinvest.
The court reversed the second decision, arguing that the City Hall had no right or reason to adopt it.
The court took up the case by an application of the Varna Regional Governor. The Regional Governor, acting on instructions by Economy and Industry Minister Kornelia Ninova, also ordered that the deal be put on hold in December 2021.
Ninova argued that the transfer would have been an act of clandestine privatization.
/DD/
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