CEZ submitted final bids for the two Bulgarian power plants Varna and Rousse, but its bids were still not the highest. Bulgaria will now start negotiations with the best bidders. Public Power of Greece placed the highest bid for Bobov Dol (EUR 70.9m), and Russia’s UES for Varna (EUR 389m) and Rousse (EUR 120m). The CEZ bids amounted to EUR 192m for Varna and to EUR 24.3m for Rousse. Despite CEZ’s strategy to expand in Central and Southern Europe through acquisition, the loss of this tender should not be viewed as negative, as it indicated that CEZ is not willing to overpay for assets and there are other tenders taking place. Alternatively, cash not used on acquisitions could be potentially returned to investors as dividends.