SOFIA, June 12 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's privatisation agency opened a tender on Tuesday to sell the cargo unit of railway operator BDZ in a bid to restructure the debt-ridden state-owned company.
BDZ hopes to raise about 200-250 million levs ($128 million-$160 million) from the sale which has attracted the initial interest of Austrian, Russian, Spanish and Turkish investors.
Strategic and financial investors should file binding bids on the 135th day after the notice for the tender is published in the State Gazette, or about the end of October or early November, the sell-off agency said in a statement.
The rail operator needs to part with its cargo unit, which has over 4,500 ageing rail-cars and employs over 4,000 people, so that it can pay back debt due by the end of the year and secure a new loan from the World Bank.
BDZ's liabilities stood at 743 million levs at the end of April, its chief executive Vladimir Vladimirov has said.
The European Union's poorest member needs to revamp its potholed Soviet-era roads, railways and bus transport to attract foreign investment in sectors such as tourism as it struggles to restart its fledgling economy.
A railway trip from Sofia to the Black Sea city of Varna - some 450 km east of the capital - currently takes around nine hours in carriages which are usually over 20 years old.
BDZ's net loss dropped to 15 million levs in the first quarter from 21 million in the same period a year ago.
($1 = 1.5633 Bulgarian levs)
(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
((tsvetelia.tsolova@thomsonreuters.com)(+359-2-93-99-731)(Reute s Messaging: tsvetelia.tsolova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: BULGARIA RAILWAYS/SALE
