SOFIA | Tue May 14, 2013 12:04pm EDT
SOFIA May 14 (Reuters) - Bulgaria on Tuesday resumed the sale of state-owned arms maker VMZ Sopot, aiming to attract a strategic investor to overhaul the debt-laden plant and funds for the cash-strapped government.
The privatisation agency set an end-November deadline for binding bids for the largest state producer of missiles, grenades and ammunition.
The agency cancelled a previous sale attempt in January after Bulgarian company EMCO, the sole interested party, withdrew because of a condition that none of the over 3,000 staff could be laid off without trade union consent.
The Bulgarian parliament has since changed the sell-off strategy and the size of the future workforce will be negotiated with bidders.
The sell-off agency had no word on likely bidders or how much the sale might raise. The annual results of VMZ Sopot are kept secret by the government.
VMZ Sopot has debts of over 150 million levs ($100 million)and the management has already started to lay off some 600 people to avoid bankruptcy, trade unions have said. ($1 = 1.5063 Bulgarian levs) (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by David Cowell)
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