BTC, the dominant Bulgarian fixed-line telecom, will seek shareholder approval to transfer 100 real estate properties valued at over 281 million euro to one of its subsidiaries. The general meeting of shareholders is scheduled for September 23.

BTC plans to transfer the assets as a non-cash contribution to the balance sheets of one or more newly incorporated single proprietorships, according to the shareholder meeting notice.

Property valuation services was provided by real estate consultants Forton International. The move is expected to streamline the management of the transferred properties and maximise their commercial potential.

The bulk of the properties that will be transferred are in Sofia and have a valuation of 142 million euro.

The company said in its report to the shareholders that a significant number of BTC real estate properties are not related to its core business.

In 2006, the previous BTC shareholders approved the creation of subsidiary BTC Real Estate to run properties valued at 36.8 million leva. The last unconsolidated financial report of the company did not mention a subsidiary by that name.

At the time, the BTC's Telephone Palace, the most valuable of the properties earmarked for transfer, was quoted at 25.6 million leva. Forton now estimates it could fetch 44.4 million euro.

BTC owns land properties with a balance sheet value of over one billion leva, according to the unconsolidated financial report of the company for the first half of 2008.

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