KG Maritime Shipping, a German-Indian consortium, will acquire a 70 per cent stake in Bulgaria's state-run merchant marine operator Navigation Maritime Bulgaria (Navibulgare), for 225 million euros ($349 million).

The Bulgarian-registered consortium KG Maritime Shipping, the sole remaining bidder, is majority (70 per cent) owned by German and Indian shipping companies.

KG Maritime Shipping put in the only valid bid for the shipping companies, although 24 parties bought tender documentation last year.

German-registered KG Maritime Partners, owned by Duesseldorf-based Martrade Transport & Shipping GmbH and Mumbai-based Accord Ship Management (Pvt) Ltd holds 70 per cent in the consortium. The remainder is held by Bulgarian firm Advance Properties Sofia, controlled by brothers Kiril and Georgi Domuschievi.

The privatisation contract has to be signed within 60 days, prime minister Sergei Stanishev said in a government press note.

KG Maritime Shipping offered 440.1 million leva for the majority stake. It will also invest 779.9 million leva over the next 10 years, including in the acquisition of 25 new ships and modernise Navibulgare's existing fleet.

Two other bidders,  Essar Shipping & Logistics Ltd and Greece's Chartworld Shipping Corp, had failed to meet privatisation requirements set by the government.

Navibulgare has a fleet of 71 ships, most of which need to be upgraded. The company reported 393.6 million leva in sales and net profit of 18.8 million leva in 2006. At the time, the company had more than 4,000 employees. .

The consortium will also have to maintain a minimum number of sailors on payroll through that period and hike wages by at least 15 per cent.

The Bulgarian government has so far raised about $5.6 billion through privatisation of state assets as part of its preparations for entering the European Union.

In 1999, the Bulgarian government sold 51 per cent stake in oil group Neftochim EAD to OAO Lukoil for $101 million, followed by sale of 65 per cent of Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. plc to a unit of Advent International Corporation for €230 million ($357 million) and the sale of 67 per cent of Bulgarian electricity groups Varna and Gorna Oryahovitsa to German energy giant E.ON AG.