Five candidates - two Bulgarian and three foreign - will vie for 100 per cent of Bobov Dol thermal power plant, Bulgaria’s Privatisation Agency said in a statement on April 16.

Bulgaria’s Consortium Energia MK, Minna Compania EOOD, Greeк Damco Energy and Sencap, as well as Belgium's Electrabel. purchased tender documentation before the April 15 deadline.

By April 25, all companies are expected to submit documents attesting to their eligibility to participate in the tender. All companies cleared to the next stage of the procedure will be allowed to buy an information memorandum and get a registration certificate, the agency said.

The open tender will take place on June 26 at the privatisation agency's Sofia office. The starting price is set to 100 million leva and the bidding increments are set at one million leva.

The two Bulgarian bidders are both linked to controversial businessman Hristo Kovachki, who has extensive mining and energy business interests, mediapool.bg reported. Sencap is a joint venture between US firm ContourGlobal and Greek Public Power Corporation (PPC).

PPC won the previous tender for the Bobov Dol power plant, pledging to pay 71 million euro for the power plant, but the privatisation agency scrapped the tender after PPC could not reach an agreement on the amount of coal it would buy from the nearby mines.