Further to the 13 March Glassonline World News report on the interest of Turkish group Sisecam in the Bulgarian soda ash producer Sodi, Belgian chemicals group Solvay SA said at the beginning of last …
Further to the 13 March Glassonline World News report on the interest of Turkish group Sisecam in the Bulgarian soda ash producer Sodi, Belgian chemicals group Solvay SA said at the beginning of last week that it was in advanced talks with the Turkish glass and chemicals producer about the sale of part of its stake in the Bulgarian operation. Solvay had previously described Sisecam“s announcement of a possible deal as premature. “Solvay and Sisecam intend to share the soda ash production of Sodi on a 75/25 basis, each party selling its share of the production both in Bulgaria and on export markets through its own organisations,” the Solvay statement said. Negotiations were also progressing with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was also expected to join the project, it said. Solvay gave no details on how its 60% stake in Sodi would be split up, but Sisecam announced in Istanbul that in buying 25% of Solvay“s stake, it would own about 17% of Sodi and get about 250,000 tonnes of its output. According to Bulgaria“s Privatisation Agency executive director Vesselin Blagoev, however, reports of the Turkish-Belgian deal were mistaken because such a transfer was not provided for in Solvay“s contract with Bulgaria.