Bulgaria Signs Contract to Sell Bulgartabak to Russia’s VTB

Bulgaria signed a contract with a unit of Russia’s second-largest bank OAO VTB to sell a majority stake in Bulgartabak Holding, ending a fourth effort in 12 years to sell the biggest state-owned tobacco maker.

The buyer of the 80 percent stake for 100.1 million euros ($136.6 million), Austrian-registered BT Invest GmbH, must continue producing tobacco and cigarettes and avoid insolvency during the next 10 years, the asset-selling agency in Sofia said in an e-mail today, citing the contract. VTB was the sole bidder in the tender after British American Tobacco Plc, Europe’s largest cigarette maker, pulled out.