Bulgaria will seek offers in $838 million tender for armoured vehicles

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria will invite four European companies to bid in a 1.46 billion levs (£669.28 million) tender to supply 150 armoured vehicles for its land forces over 12 years, the defence ministry said on Friday.

The ministry will invite Germany's Artec, a joint venture of Rheinmetall <RHMG.DE> and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, France's Nexter, Finland's Patria and Swiss General Dynamics Land System- Mowag to send offers.

The Balkan country plans to pick a winner by Dec. 20.

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Edmund Blair)