The preferred bidder or bidders for two new subsidiaries carrying the main power utility PPC’s lignite units that need to be disinvested, according to bailout terms, will be declared by October 17 as part of an express procedure to last five months, the utility’s board decided yesterday at a crucial meeting, during which the sale plan’s schedule and steps were approved.

The sale’s official announcement, facing a May 31 deadline, will be made next week, while candidates will then be shortlisted before qualifiers submit binding offers in October, according to the schedule.

Investors will have until June 11 to submit questions and until June 21 to express official interest, according to the schedule.

The shortlist will be announced on July 3 and, on July 5, qualifiers will be invited to make binding offers, the PPC board has decided.

The tender’s terms for participants were also approved yesterday. Investors will need to meet financial criteria. Electricity production backgrounds will not be a prerequisite. Investment funds will also be eligible to take part in the sale of PPC’s power stations and mines on offer, representing 40 percent of the utility’s overall lignite capacity.

Participants will be restricted to making exclusive offers as members of just one bidding team. This term has been added with the aim of intensifying bidding competition.