Bulgarian regulator blocks two deals with Czech businesses

Bulgaria's anti-monopoly regulator has blocked two multimillion deals with Czech businesses, saying the buyers might achieve dominance on the market through a concentration of ownership.

One was the sale of Czech energy giant CEZ‘s Bulgarian assets to the Bulgarian company, Inercom, the other was the sale of one of Bulgaria's two largest media conglomerates, Nova Broadcasting Group, to the PPF group of Czech businessman Petr Kellner.The regulator said the deals could result in market dominance that might harm customers.

The ruling can be appealed before the Supreme Administrative Court within two weeks.