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23-05-2008
The financial sector and a rash of IPOs powered the stock market rally witnessed in 2007, shows the second edition of Dnevnik Top 100, an annual ranking of the nation's top-performing public corporations prepared by the Dnevnik newspaper.
The performance of the public companies is benchmarked against five criteria with an equal weight: total revenues, revenue growth, profit margin, market cap and number of annual market transactions.
The chart is topped by Eurohold Bulgaria, Corporate Commercial Bank (CCBank), First Investment Bank (FIBank), car batteries maker Monbat and the Bulgarian American Credit Bank.
All listed banks, infrastructure and industrial manufacturing companies made the top 15.
The 2007 IPOs of FIBank and CCBank were a resounding success and were oversubscribed many times over.
In addition to the two banks, the chart features several other corporations that went public last year, including Monbat, mining company Kaolin and road builder Trace Group Hold.
Dnevnik has also ranked the 10 public companies with the best corporate management. The roster was compiled through a survey among 30 investment analysts, portfolio managers and reporters. They gave the top honors for 2007 to Monbat.
 
13-02-2008
Euroins Insurance Group, an Eurohold Bulgaria subholding, has become the first Bulgarian company to set foot on the Macedonian market.
The insurance group said it has secured regulatory approval in Macedonia to acquire 83% in Macosped Osiguranje in a deal worth 7 mln euro.
The name of the acquired insurer will be changed to Euroins Macedonia.
The deal is part of the group's strategy to achieve a 5% market share in the Balkan region.
The next move on the Macedonian market will be the purchase or creation of a leasing unit which will be integrated with Euroins Macedonia.
Euroins Insurance Group is the catch-all structure for Eurohold's insurance businesses in Bulgaria and Romania and health insurance fund St Nikolai Chudotvorets.
Eurohold supervisory board chairman Asen Hristov said the holding zeroed in on Macedonia because of its fast growth rate and low insurance penetration.
Acquisition talks are underway with other insurers in neighboring countries, said Hristov. The deal are expected to be sealed within the next couple of months.
Macosped Osiguranje ranks as Macedonia's sixth largest insurer among a total of 12 market players. It has 10 regional branches.
Euroins Insurance Group follows in the footsteps of other Bulgarian companies that have invested in Macedonia like First Investment Bank, Central Co-operative Bank, Status Capital and Alfa Finance Holding.
 
22-11-2007
Eurohold Bulgaria reported consolidated Jan – Sept revenues in the amount of 188 mln leva. Net profit for the period stood at 10.6 mln leva (5.420 mln euros), of which 8.5 mln leva (4.345 mln euros) posted by the group.
The financial result has been entirely formed by subsidiaries.
On September 30, the holding's assets totaled 333 mln leva (170.260 mln euros). The company's own capital stands at 117 mln leva (59.821 mln euros).
Financial operations account for the largest part of the holding's profit, generating some 115 mln leva in revenue and 6.8 mln leva in total earnings.
The automobile unit ranks second with 58 mln leva in revenues and 1.8 mln leva net profit. Production generated 14 mln leva in revenue and 1.4 mln leva in earnings.
The financial results of the recently acquired Plasthim-T are not included in the report. It will be included in Q4 consolidated report.
After the release of the Jan – Sept data and the successful auction, at which 21% of Etropal's shares changed hands, Eurohols Bulgaria amended its prognosed results for the 2007. Estimated 2007 revenue is raised to 330 mln leva (168.726 mln euros), and net profit is expected to reach 22.7 mln leva (11.606 mln euros).
Subsidiaries will account for 70% of net profit, and financial operations for 30%.
The consolidated report includes for the first time so far, the results of the newly acquired insurer Euroins Romania and the leasing company Eurolease Auto Romania. The latter is in the process of capital increase, and by the end of the year, capital is expected to reach 1 mln euros. Alberto Catalin Anton, former manager in AFIN Leasing Romania, was appointed CEO of Eurolease Auto Romaina.
 
20-08-2007
Dear customers, considered from 20 august BFB will shift the group to the companies from the base to BG40 index and will be added Eurohold Bulgaria Ltd.BG 40 index consists 40 company with the largest number of the transactions of the last 6 months. According to the rules on determination of the indices of BFB Sofia, getting as well interleaving discharges off associations, included with indices, can be done only with board of directors of ÁÔÁ Sofia decision-a underworld, upon proposal of the committee of the indices, as the decisions are made on this two times annually.
 
 
29-06-2007
Local holding company Eurohold Bulgaria said it has entered the general and auto insurance market of neighboring Romania with the purchase of Asitrans Asigurari and Asitrans Leasing.
The acquisition of the auto leasing company Asitrans Leasing is part of Eurohold's deal for a majority stake in general insurer Asitrans Asigurari.
Eurohold Bulgaria already has one auto leasing subsidiary, Eurolease Auto.
The cost of the acquisition will not be announced before the deal gets regulatory clearance, said Asen Hristov, chairman of the Bulgarian holding.
The Romanian deal is Eurohold's first acquisition abroad.
Eurohold company Euroins recently notified the Bulgarian financial watchdog of its intentions to provide insurance services in several EU states. The insurer also plans to acquire stakes in peers throughout the Balkan region.
Eurohold will aim to carve out a 3-5% share on the Balkan insurance market over the next 2 years, said Hristov.
The holding company estimates the Romanian acquisition should boost premium income to 130 mln levs in 2007 and to 180 mln levs in 2008.
Euroins generates the bulk of its premiums from auto insurance as is also the case with the new Romanian subsidiary.
 
21-06-2007
The share sale of local holding company Eurohold Bulgaria has raised the company 42 mln levs on the local bourse.
The issue was fully subscribed by the Wednesday expiry deadline, enabling Eurohold to hike its capital from 50 mln to 62.5 mln levs.
The proceeds will be funneled to subsidiary companies.
The capital of auto leasing subsidiary Eurolease Auto will be raised to 10 mln levs while that of health insurance fund Sveti Nikolai Chudotvorets will go from 1 mln to 2.5 mln levs.
The most ambitious exercise will be performed by Eurohold-controlled investment intermediary Euro Finance. The capital of the company will be enlarged to 15 mln levs before it applies for a banking licence. If such is granted, the outfit will focus exclusively on investment banking services, steering away from the retail segment altogether.
Insurer Euroins, also an Eurohold company, will receive a share of the capital raise proceeds to pursue the acquisition of stakes in foreign peers and to market services and products in the rest of the EU.
Eurohold said Euroins was already in talks to buy insurers in neighboring countries. No further details were immediately available.
 
15-06-2007
Etropal, a Bulgarian maker of hemodialysis consumables and equipment, said it will launch a new production line for synthetic membrane dialysers.
The 1.5 mln lev installation will boost annual output from 0.5 mln to 1.2 mln dialysers.
The company, owned by Eurohold Bulgaria, manufactured 0.3 mln dialysers in 2006. So far in 2007, the Etropole-based outfit has been contracted to make 650,000 dialysers, including an order from the health ministry and an export order for 330,000 devices.
Another export contract for an estimated 350,000 dialysers is expected to be signed by end-August.
A further 2 new production lines will be launched by the end of July in connection with a supply deal for Tyco Healthcare Group.
The investment resource allocated for 2007 should boost sales by 70% to 17 mln levs.
 
01-06-2007
City Bank – Sofia has received all payments due for the allocated shares in the First Invesment Bank IPO within the period set by the prospectus which was the three business between May 26 – May 28, BSE announced.
A total of 107 mln leva were received for the allocated 10 mln new shares from the bank's capital increase and another 69.55 mln leva for the allocated existing shares sold by First Investment Btokerage House Ltd.
The emission will soon be floated on the BSE under the code FIB.
Trade with the shares of First Investment Bank is expected to start June 22, 2007 according to the bank's prospectus.
The IPO took place in May and the price per share was set at 10.70 leva. Oversubscription of shares was 5.97 times.
The total value of the stock offered is 176.55 mln leva and the offers received are worth 1 317 898 070 leva.
 
17-05-2007
Bulgarian Holding Corp. (BHC) said it will subscribe 71.6% of the share offering placed by Eurohold Bulgaria, a financial holding company where it is a majority shareholder.
Eurohold Bulgaria supervisory board chairman Asen Hristov told he was confident the capital raise will be successful. He said some 84% of the share offering have been subscribed so far and that includes investors that are not current equity holders.
The U.S. Firebird Avrora Fund, one of the bigger Eurohold shareholders, will subscribe the shares it is eligible to pick up, said Hristov. IN March this year, the fund bought a 6% stake in Eurohold Bulgaria.
The free float of the holding company will remain 30%.
Eurohold is performing a capital hike from 50 mln to 62.5 mln levs. The company could raise up to 42 mln levs if the 3.35 mln lev share offering is fully subscribed.
 
11-05-2007
Local holding company Eurohold Bulgaria has forecast revenues of 95 mln levs and a profit of 6.3 mln levs for the first half of 2007.
The company also released Q1 results, showing net profit for the period at 2.5 mln levs and revenues of some 40 mln levs.
The financial and automotive subsidiaries contributed 1.443 mln and 0.5 mln levs to the consolidated profit.
Eurohold-controlled insurance company Euroins posted a net profit of 677,000 levs for Q1.
Auto leasing subsidiary Eurolease Auto reported a profit of 353,000 levs, up from 106,000 levs a year ago.
Profits at investment intermediary Euro Finance rose to 481,000 levs in Q1 2007 versus 67,000 levs a year earlier.
The automotive subsidiaries combined for a Q1 revenue total of 17.557 mln levs which compares with 11.673 mln levs a year earlier.
The total assets of the holding company stood at 203 mln levs by end-March while own capital was at 67 mln levs.
21-03-2007
Eurohold Bulgaria and its parent company Bulgarian Holding Corporation have signed an extendable 5-year loan agreement for 6 mln levs. Eurohold Bulgaria, created after the merger of former privatisation fund Eurohold with Starcom Holding, will invest the funds in its subsidiary companies and in equity acquisitions. The holding is active in finance, manufacture, real state and auto dealing.
 
14-02-2007
The Bulgarian bourse has given the go-ahead to the issue of Eurohold Bulgaria, formed after the merger of Eurohold and Starcom Holding, to start trading from Feb 14. The 50 mln lev capital of the new holding company is divided into shares with a par value of 1 lev each. The managers of Eurohold Bulgaria said the free float of the company should reach 25-30% by the end of the year.
 
29-11-2006
The Bulgarian Stock Exchange Monday registered for trading 5 securities issues. Four of them will start trading on January 31.

The new issuances include the new shares floated by Toplivo, the Bulgarian distributor of construction materials, solid and liquid fuels, the issues of 2 special purpose vehicles co-owned by the Central Co-operative Bank and the share offering of pawn shop operator Sofia Commerce.
Toplivo successfully hiked its capital from 4.3 mln to 5.4 mln levs, raising 9.75 mln levs in fresh cash which will be invested in the reconstruction of existing and the construction of new gas service stations, the acquisition of new liquid fuel and propane-butane filling stations and of new warehousing facilities.
The stock of the company has rallied some 90% from last may after majority shareholder Synergon Holding lowered its stake from 85% to 74.45% as a result of the capital raise.
The 2 new funds arriving on the bourse - CCB Real Estate Fund and Capital management, are controlled indirectly by holding company Chimimport. Both funds are co-owned by CCB Group Asset Management (70%) and insurer Armeec (30%).
CCB Real Estate Fund will invest in real estate properties while Capital Management will invest in the securitisation of leasing and bank loan receivables.
Sofia Commerce is the first Bulgarian company to issue preferred shares. The share sale raised 2 mln levs in October 2006. The company floats 400,000 shares on the bourse.
A new issue will also be added to the bond market on Wednesday. The 5 mln euro paper was issued by Alma Tour BG and matures in 2011.(Dnevnik)

 

21-11-2006
Monbat, Bulgaria's biggest producer of car batteries, raised 32.67 mln levs in an initial public offering of 24% of its share capital, the lead manager of the issue, Elana Trading, said on Friday. The company, majority controlled by lubricants producer Prista Oil, said the issue had been oversubscribed six times, pushing the initial price up by 26.4% to 6.95 levs per share. Elana said 20% of the offering was scooped up by foreign investors. The shares will be offered on Sofia's stock exchange at the end of December. The IPO will raise fresh cash for several investment projects. Monbat plans to invest 7 mln euro in a lead recycling plant in neighbouring Serbia. The same amount will be spent on torque battery equipment. The company also plans to make 10 mln levs in leasing contract payments and to spend 2 mln euro to raise the annual output capacity of its plant in Montana, North-western Bulgaria, to 2 mln batteries by mid-2007.(Dnevnik)

 

30.10.2006
Frenzied demand for Chimimport stock upon their Monday debut on the secondary segment of the local stock exchange caused technical glitches with the COBOS Internet-based trading system.
The stock closed at 5.39 levs on Monday after recently IPOing at 4 levs per share. The rally increased the market capitalisation of the company to 700 mln levs and now it trails only telco BTC and drug maker Sopharma in that respect.
A total of 17.6 mln Chimimport shares changed hands Monday which accounted for two thirds of the day's trading volume.
The holding reported its nine-month non-consolidated numbers Monday. Profit jumped to 10.8 mln levs from 2 mln levs a year ago. Non-consolidated assets rose to 315 mln levs versus 234 mln levs a year earlier./Dnevnik/
 
09.10.2006
Bulgaria's Central Depository Monday disclosed local company Baranko EOOD, a subsidiary of Cyprus-registered offshore outfit Baranko Co. Limited, as the buyer of a 67% stake in Plovdiv-based maker of cigarette production and packaging equipment J.G. BT. Baranko manager Vladimir Bonev told Dnevnik the buyer has no concrete plans for J.G. BT. He did not reveal the owner of the Cypriot company. Baranko paid 27.6 mln levs for the J.G. BT stake at the October 3 auction organised by the Bulgarian stock exchange. In a separate auction, the bourse sold a further 13.57% of J.G. BT. Bonev said Baranko did not buy any shares from that package. At the time of the auction, 3 independent sources told Dnevnik that the buyer is First Investment Bank (FIBank) or a client of the bank. Bonev currently serves as executive director of the Sofia Land amusement park. The construction of the park was loan-financed by FIBank and collaterised with a special pledge./Dnevnik/
 
03.10.2006
Bulgarian tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Tuesday sold 67% in J.G. BT, the Plovdiv-based company comprising a printing and filter-making unit and a manufacturing unit for cigarette-making equipment, for 27.6 mln levs, the stock exchange said.
The name of the buyer was not disclosed by the bourse or the seller.
The bourse said the name of the buyer is known only to First Financial Brokerage House (FFBH), the investment broker that transacted the J.G. BT shares.
FFBH said the investor asked to remain anonymous until the settlement of the deal.
Three independent sources - connected to Bulgartabac, to an investor that was interested in J.G. BT and to First Investment Bank (FIBank), conjectured that the buyer is either FIBank itself or a client of the bank.
Austria's Meyr-Melnhof Karton, widely tipped as the most likely buyer, did not pursue the deal because the share price was too high.
Bulgartabac also offered a 13.57% minority stake in J.G. BT at 31.16 levs, selling 131,517 shares for 4.8 mln levs./Dnevnik/
 
08-09-2006
Chimimport, one of Bulgaria's biggest holding companies, moved closer to its bourse listing Thursday when investor got the go-ahead to place their bids for the upcoming share sale.
Market watchers said the company has the potential to become the nation's third biggest public corporation in terms of market capitalisation.
The Chimimport capital raise, most likely 2006's barn-burner as far as the local capital market is concerned, will continue through September 20.
The company said it expected its shares to start trading on the local stock exchange in late October.
Chimimport will IPO 11,083,914 new shares with a nominal value of 1 lev and issue price of 4 levs. The exercise could fetch the company as much as 44 mln levs in fresh cash for the development of its financial business operations.
According to the IPO prospectus, 22 mln levs of the raised amount will be used to increase the capital of Central Co-operative Bank (CCB).
The bank plans to increase SME and retail lending and services and to expand its branch network.
CCB also intends to set up a couple of mutual funds and debut co-branded products with other companies from the Chimimport group like air carrier Hemus Air.
For its part, Chimimport plans to launch one more insurance and one health insurance companies.
The holding owns the Armeec insurance company and the CCB Sila and Saglasie pension insurance companies.
Further investment is also planned for vegetable oil producer Sunny Rays Bulgaria and the Pleven-based Oil and Gas Exploration and Extraction Co.
Sunny Rays, which Chimimport plans to list by the end of 2006, intends to build a biodiesel installation In Provadia and a bio ethanol refinery in Varna.
Some 25 mln euro have been slated for investment in another Chimimport-controlled company, the Bulgarian River Shipping Corporation (BRSC).
BRSC will have a new port facility at Ruse, on the Danube, by the end of 2006 as well as two renovated bio ethanol tankers. The capital of the company will be increased by 10% in 2007.
Chimimport, 98.095%-owned by Chimimport Invest, controls stakes in 44 companies. The company's total assets topped 1.5 bln levs at mid-year, up from 1.18 bln levs a year ago./Dnevnik/
 
28-06-2006
The Plovdiv-based J.G. BT unit of Bulgaria's tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding will be sold on the local stock exchange.
The decision was taken by the supervisory board of the holding company on the advise of the sell-off consultants.
The listing of 80.5% of J.G. BT, which comprises a printing and filter-making unit and a manufacturing unit for cigarette-making equipment, will ensure the sale generates maximum proceeds while the lack of post-privatisation commitments will make the deal appealing to a broader scope of candidates.
Seven foreign and 1 Bulgarian companies have so far indicated their interest in J.G. BT which posted a loss of 673,000 levs in the first quarter of 2006./Dnevnik/
22-05-2006
The Bulgarian bourse has confirmed the prospectus for the secondary offering of FairPlay Residential Properties, a residential developer and manager of serviced apartments.
The capital of the company is 11,038,300 levs divided into as many shares.
FairPlay Residential Properties owns the Apartment House Iztok, a serviced apartments estate in Sofia, and a second residential building in the capital's Borovo district.
The company plans to develop a 1.4 ha lot in Sofia outlying Pancharevo district into a complex of 20 houses for rent or sale.
FairPlay International, a construction, development and investment company, owns 80.35% of FairPlay Residential Properties.
Away from the special purpose vehicles, the Bulgarian bourse has not seen any IPOs so far in 2006.
FairPlay Residential Properties is the fourth company to register a secondary offering this year after insure Euroins, Zlaten Lev Holding and the Bulgarian American Credit Bank./Dnevnik/
27-01-2006
Starcom Holding, the majority owner of insurance company Euroins, has promised to pay out a dividend to the amount of 20% of the insurer's profit, chairman of Euroins managing board Kiril Boshov said on Thursday, a couple of days ahead of the company's debut on the local bourse.
Euroins sees 2006 revenue at around 50 mln levs, up 25% year-on-year.
The insurance company will be listed on the bourse next Monday. The 23% stake that will be offered was held by former privatisation fund Eurohold. The only other shareholder in the insurance company, Starcom Holding, will retain its stake for the time being.
The value at which the Euroins shares were booked at end-September - 1.2 levs, will serve as a guide price for Monday's trading session. However, brokers expect the stock to appreciate to 1.5 levs.
Due to its public status, Euroins will be circulating premium income and net profit statistics and forecasts on a monthly basis.
Euroins, established 9 years ago, ranked 9th in terms of premium income in January-September 2005, shows data of the insurance supervisor.
Revenues added up to 25 mln levs for a market share of 3.88%. According to Euroins data, the company sold policies to the total worth of 40 mln levs in 2005, giving it a market share of 4.35%. Some 80% of its revenues are generated by auto insurance. The company's claims/premiums ratio stood at 37.3% at end-2005, unchanged from the previous year. Insurance reserves stand at 15 mln levs, gross of reinsurance.
Last year's profit, which amounted to 1 mln levs, will most likely be capitalised and will go to finance a capital hike from 5 mln to 6 mln levs which the company has to perform to meet the minimum capital requirement introduced as of 2007.
Euroins has 101 local offices and 227,000 clients, of which 43% are corporate.
Apart from Euroins, Starcom Holding owns Starcom leasing and health fund Sveti Nikolai Chudotvorets.
Euroins is the third Bulgarian insurer to go public along with DZI and Bulstrad.
03-01-2006
The unfolding gas deliveries row between Russia and Ukraine had not affected supplies to Bulgaria by Monday afternoon, said state-owned gas distributor Bulgargaz. Bulgargaz did not rule the possibility of domestic shortages if the gas blockade is not lifted soon. Some 200 mln cu m of gas (roughly equal to a 2-week domestic consumption) are currently stored at the Chiren repository, said Bulgargaz executive director Kiril Gegov. Russia cut supplies to the neighbouring Ukraine on Sunday after it rejected Moscow's demand for a fourfold price rise. Russia supplies one fourth of Western Europe's natural gas with as much as 80% of the deliveries piped through Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile Bulgaria seems to be headed for a price shock of its own after the speaker of Russian state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom was quoted by news agency RIA Novosti as saying that the offer for a price of $230-260 per 1,000 cu m applies not only for Ukraine but also for Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. The quoted figure is double the price at which Bulgargaz currently buys gas from Russia which is believed to be $110-120. The effective delivery tariff is even lower given that Bulgaria buys half of the volumes for domestic consumption at $80 per 1,000 cu m as a non-cash payment for the gas transit to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. Alexander Medvedev, director general of Gazprom subsidiary Gazexport, has already demanded before Bulgarian government officials a revision of the gas delivery contract and a market-based method for the calculation of transit fees when they are paid in kind. The negotiations on a possible rewrite of the contract are expected to begin this month. The contract was signed in 1998 and expires in 2010. Bulgaria could lose as much as $1 bln in the period up to 2010 if the agreement is renegotiated, Bulgarian economy minister Rumen Ovcharov said recently./Dnevnik/

 

04-11-2005
Vivatel, the cellular division of former telecom monopoly BTC, will make its debut on the Bulgarian GSM market with prepaid plans for private subscribers. The service could be rolled out as soon as November 7. BTC and vivatel neither confirmed nor denied the cited launch date. Incumbent wireless operators MobilTel and GloBul have already slashed the price of their prepaid plans in anticipation of vivatel's launch. Vivatel is likely to delay the start of subscription services reportedly due to its billing systems which is not yet operational. The newcomer has already signed agreements on the billing of text messages exchanged by its customers and those of MobilTel and GloBul. Vivatel has picked 2be, the local retailer of telecom products and services, to market its wireless service products but is in talks with other distributors as well./Dnevnik/

 

22-08-2005
BTC, Bulgaria's former telecom monopoly, posted a profit of 113.12 mln levs in the first half of 2005, down 21% year-on-year.
Overall revenues fell slightly from 518.61 mln levs in the first half of 2004 to 516.65 mln levs in January-June 2005 while expenses rose by almost 13%. Sale proceeds from services fell to 505.09 mln levs.
The assets of the telecom are estimated at 1.725 bln levs. The market capitalisation of the copany was 3.35 bln levs on Monday.
BTC said it will zone off its marketing and commercial operations into 4 regions in a bid to improve customer service. The 4 operational regions will be centered in Sofia, Varna, Rousse and Plovdiv.
The telecom said weekend traffic to 6 of the most popular international call destinations jumped by 74% in July./Dnevnik/
21-07-2005
Irish investment fund Quinn Group has acquired almost 50% of Hilton Sofia and is in talks with other shareholders to buy a majority stake in the hotel, said participants in Wednesday's general meeting of Hilton Sofia owner Compagnie des Hotels de Luxe S.A. The representatives of Bulgarian shareholders - Sofia municipality and construction company Glavbolgarstroy, were surprised to see at the meeting Alan Hynes who said he represented the new owners. The meeting never took place after Glavbolgarstroy CEO Simeon Pashov insisted that the shareholders have not been summoned following the regular procedure. According to unofficial information, the Dutch-registered subsidiary of France's Sibex - Sofia Hotel Development Corporation, sold its 49.571% interest in Compagnie des Hotels de Luxe S.A. to the Irish fund. The offload, if it really took place, violates the articles of association of the hotel operator which require that the other shareholders should be notified of such a transaction. Glavbolgarstroy, which owns 11.935% of Compagnie des Hotels de Luxe S.A., is of the opinion that the transaction should involve all shareholders, said Peshov, adding that he too was in talks to sell with several potential buyers, including Quinn Group. The Sofia municipality said it has received an unofficial offer from Glavbolgarstroy to buy its stake in Compagnie des Hotels de Luxe S.A. Disappointed by a string of loses, the previous municipal council had decided to cash out of Compagnie des Hotels de Luxe S.A. Neither Hynes nor the Hilton Sofia management were available for comment. It emerged in late 2004 that Sibex was seeking to sell its stakes in the Hilton hotels in Sofia and Bucharest in a single transaction. Bulgarian companies Victoria Group and Sunny Day were initially interested in picking up the Sibex stake but later backed out due to the high asking price. Hilton Sofia achieved an occupancy rate of 58% last year. A total of 58,000 people stayed at the hotel while the number of punters that visited the hotel's eateries and entertainment venues was 210,000. Annual operating profit rose 9% year-on-year. The hotels financials for 2004 have not been released yet. Revenues topped 14.9 mln levs in 2003 while profit stood at 4 mln levs. Hilton Sofia general manager Friedrich Niemann was quoted as saying recently that Hilton International will continue to perform its duties in accordance with the 20-year contract for the management of the hotel despite the imminent ownership changes./Dnevnik/

 

14-06-2005
Unicredito, the Italian bank, finally unveiled on Sunday Europe's biggest cross-border banking deal with a plan to buy HypoVereinsbank (HVB), Germany's second-largest bank, for some 20 bln euro, the international news agencies reported on Monday.
The deal creates the biggest bank in Central and Eastern Europe with assets of 60.7 bln euro or about twice those of current market leader Erste Bank of Austria, shows data of investment bank Credit Suisse.
The take-over will increase the clientbase of the two banks to 10.1 mln while reducing costs through staff cuts and platform and network synergies. Unicredito owns Bulgaria's Bulbank while HVB Group owns subsidiary HVB Bank Biochim and local Hebros Bank through its subsidiary Bank Austria Creditanstalt BA-CA. If the merger clears all anti-trust hurdles and the two banks decide to merge their Bulgarian operations, the move would easily create the nation's largest bank in terms of assets./Dnevnik/
31-05-2005
Telekom Austria (TA) and its subsidiary Mobilkom Austria will finalise the take-over of MobilTel, Bulgaria's dominant wireless telecom operator, earlier than expected, the company was quoted as saying May 27, 2005 by Austrian news agency APA. The contracts will be signed at the beginning of next week, starting May 30, sources close to the deal added. The finalisation of the deal is expected in July 2005. According to earlier reports the take-over was expected to be concluded in the third quarter of 2005, said APA. This is the largest acquisition by an Austrian company with a purchase price of 1.6 bln euro ($2.0 bln). The price consists of a basic sum of 1.45 bln euro ($1.82 bln) and a bonus of 150 mln euro ($187.8 mln). The price of MobilTel exceeds 5.1 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), said APA. Currently MobilTel is part of a consortium of Austrian and international investors. A total 60% are held by Austrian shareholders, 40% of which are owned by entrepreneur Martin Schlaff, 10% each by industrialists Josef Taus and Herbert Cordt. The remaining 40% are owned by seven private equity companies, led by ABN Amro Capital, Citigroup Investments and CVP, said APA. Telekom Austria acquired a purchase option for MobilTel in December 2004./Dnevnik/

 

27-04-2005
All four candidate buyers certified by Bulgaria's Privatisation Agency (PA) to partake in the privatisation of the Bulgarian River Shipping Corporation (BRSC) have filed indicative offers for a 70% stake in the company. Permission to proceed to the next stage of the sell-off procedure was granted to local mining and processing company Kaolin, building materials maker Toplivo, Chimimport, owned by Varna-based economic group TIM, Cyprus-registered Bulcom LTD. All of them complied with the April 25 bid receipt deadline. The PA will review the offers, shortlist the buyers that will make it to the final stage of the competition and set the timetable for the completion of the sell-off procedure. Hungary's Masped Rt, part of the Masped Group, was denied entry to the procedure after failing to certify compliance with the prequalification criteria for financial investor. The BRSC sell-off procedure was open to legal entities registered in Bulgaria or the EU. Off-shore companies were barred from the competition which was otherwise open to both strategic and financial investors. The state has floated 30% of the river fleet on the non-cash segment of the Bulgarian stock exchange. Profits at BRSC jumped from 16,000 levs in 2003 to 324,000 levs last year while net sales rose from 16.7 mln levs a year ago to 24.8 mln levs in 2004./Dnevnik/

 

31-03-2005
MobilTel, Bulgaria's dominant mobile phone service provider, has won a third-generation network operator's licence with a bid of 78 mln levs ($51.55 mln), officials at the telecom regulator were quoted as saying by news agency Reuters on Wednesday, March 30. By winning the 20-year "Class A" licence, MobilTel is obliged to offer high-speed UMTS services within two years. MobilTel's investment into the system over the next year and a half will reach over 100 mln euro. It depends on the level of interest,' Reuters cited MobilTel Chief Executive Nikolai Nikolov as saying. 'The service will start in the middle of 2006.In 2 years, the UMTS licence holder should have 20% coverage of the population and should have built a 144-kbps link between Sofia, Plovdiv, Bourgas, Rousse and Varna. In five years, coverageshould reach 55% of Bulgaria's 8 population while the affordable connection speed should go up to 384kbps. An expert panel is now expected to propose that two 20-year "Class B" permits, which have lower transmission capacity, be granted to BTC and Bulgaria's second-largest mobile operator, GloBul, for 42 million levs eachBTC, majority owned by U.S. equity fund Advent, plans to launch mobile phone services later this year. GloBul, a unit of Greek telecom company OTE, currently controls around 25% of the Balkan state's mobile market, Reuters said. Bulgaria has relatively low cellphone penetration of around 50%, compared with 75% or more in western Europe, making it one of the continent's last prime growth markets, Reuters said. /Dnevnik/

 

22-03-2005
Bulgaria's Privatisation Agency has extended until April 27 the deadline for the receipt of bids for the thermal power plants (TPPs) in Bobov Dol, Rousse and Varna may be postponed. The deadline is adjusted to accommodate the itinerary of meetings that the prospective buyers have scheduled at Bulgaria's energy ministry, the state energy and water regulatory commission and national electricity grid operator NETC. The meetings are part of the financial analysis of the TPPs that the buyers are preparing. The deadline extension will allow the candidates to get a better picture of the market position of the TPPs and the regulatory environment in which they will have to do business after the privatisation. The participants in the sell-off procedure will be asked to submit their 3 mln euro security deposit on the same day as the final bid deadline. The security should be furnished as a bank guarantee issued by an international commercial bank rated at least A by Standard&Poor's or A2 by Moody's. Czech CEZ, Austria's EVN, Germany's E.ON, Italian gas and water utility Enel, U.S. company AES, Greece's Public Power Corporation, RAO EES of Russia, Britain's International Power, France's Dalkia International and J Power and Mitsui of Japan have been certified to partake in the sell-off procedure. The buyers will have to bid for a stake of at least 51% and will be allowed to later exercise an option to increase their equity to 67%. The proceeds from capital raise will be invested in the respective TPP. The state will hold on to the remaining 33% until July 2007./Dnevnik/
12-03-2005
Bulgaria's transmission grid operator NETC may sign five-year Reserve Capacity Mechanism (RCM) contracts with the future owners of the thermal power plants (TPPs) in Bobov Dol and Varna, say the guidelines for the regulation of the electricity production capacity. The document is expected to be adopted by the State Energy Regulatory Commission (SERC), commission chief Konstantin Shushulov said on Thursday, March 11. Under the RCM contracts, NETC will pay the TPPs for ensuring that adequate generation and demand side management capacity is available to maintain reliability and security of electricity supply. The RCM costs will include the operating costs and investment costs related to rehabilitation and environmental exercises. These costs will be factored into the transmission fee and will be thus shared out among all consumers. The guidelines require NETC to sign five-year RCM contracts involving three units of the Varna TPP and one unit of the Bobov Dol TPP. NETC will purchase the electricity generated from local coal by the Bobov Dol unit until 2007 when Bulgaria's power market will open fully to competition. The output of one of the condensation units of the Rousse TPP will be sold on the deregulated segment of the power market. The three TPPs are undergoing a privatisation procedure with bids expected to be submitted by March 30. The proposal of sell-off adviser CSFB initially for 10-year RCM deals and long-term power purchase agreements caused friction between the energy ministry and the Privatisation Agency. The ministry was of the opinion that such arrangement would slow the deregulation of the power market and spike electricity prices. The adviser, the ministry and the agency have approximated their positions, energy minister Miroslav Sevlievski said, withholding further details. The government was hoping to have the sell-off contracts for the three TPPs signed by June./Dnevnik/
15-02-2005
Documents for participation in the sealed-bid tenders for three UMTS licences can now be purchased from Bulgaria's Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) after the decision to this end was announced in the Official Gazette on Tuesday, February 15. The three third-generation mobile phone licences have a combined initial price of 154 mln levs. In the tender scheduled for March 30, the CRC will hand out one Class A licence with capacity 2x10 MHz+1x5 MHz. Bidding will start at 70 mln levs with increment of 2 mln levs. The tender documents for the Class A licence will be on sale until February 28. Potential bidders must notify their intentions to the CRC by March 17. Two Class B licenses with capacity 2x5 MHz+1x5 MHz will be up for grabs at the April 5 auction. The bidding for the two 20-year licences will start at 42 mln levs with increment set at 1 mln levs. The procedure is open to telecom companies with at least 500,000 service subscribers and annual telecom service revenues of 50 mln euro for 2003. Partnerships between two or more telecom operators holding Bulgarian GSM licences are barred from the procedure. Bulgaria's dominant wireless operator MobilTel, Greek-controlled rival operator GloBul, Bulgaria's former telecom monopoly BTC, Tele2 of Sweden and British-registered First Place AR are the companies that have notified to the telecom regulator their interest in the 3G licences. First Place has revealed it is fronting for another bidder, withholding the name of the company in question. (Dnevnik)
28-01-2005
Bulgaria's initial public offering of 35% of former state-controlled fixed-line operator BTC attracted heavy demand on Thursday, and the price soared well over the pre-set minimum of 100 levs ($66.58) per share. Bulgaria launched the IPO after selling 65% of BTC to U.S. investment fund Advent for 230 mln euro last year to juice Sofia's illiquid bourse and let Bulgarians cash in compensation notes issued to them for property lost under communism. The state sell-off agency set the starting price at 100 compensation notes per share. The notes trade freely on the stock exchange, counted at their par value of one lev each. But that was quickly eclipsed as the accepted price spiked to a range of 212-502 notes per BTC share in bidding that exhausted nearly all of the 2,869,251 shares on offer. 'Today 99% of the offered stake was sold. We can congratulate each other with the successful privatisation of the company,' Georgi Draichev, executive director of The Bulgarian Stock Exchange, told reporters. The average offered price was the equivalent of 218.64 notes at a par value of one lev each. But that put the value of the stake on offer at 157-709 mln levs ($105-$472 mln), taking into account that the notes have traded in a range of 0.25 to 1.13 levs since October, after the float was announced, Reuters noted. The notes were trading below par after Thursday's float. The deal, the largest-ever IPO on the Sofia Stock Exchange, allowed many Bulgarians to finally cash in the notes after years of few investment opportunities, Reuters said. The total number of shares sold were 2,854,282, vacuuming 624 mln notes, around half of the entire amount issued by the state, out of circulation. The roughly 15,000 shares in BTC that were not bought on Thursday will be floated on Friday, Reuters quoted Draichev as saying. The owners of the shares will be known on Monday when settlement is completed. According to the news agency, analysts are not optimistic that the deal will jump-start the sleepy bourse, as most of the new BTC investors are expected to hold on to the shares. Only around 5,500 shares changed hands when trading began after the float, and they were trading at 260 levs at midday. Clients of the Bulgarian Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank) scooped up over 2.1 shares from the offering or 75% of the float and 20% of the telco's capital. The buyers included investment funds from the U.S. and several European countries, EIBank said. Market sources said ING Bank Bulgaria, which bought the second largest portion of the BTC offering, also acted on behalf of a foreign institutional investor. Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, investment brokerage Karroll and First Financial Brokerage House were also in the top five of the biggest share buyers. The local bourse lacks other large-cap stocks, and investors will be hard pressed to diversify in Bulgaria's underdeveloped capital markets, Reuters notes. The float adviser and lead manager is a consortium of the National Bank of Greece, Greek-owned United Bulgarian Bank and Bulgarian brokerage Bulbrokers. At the end of the third quarter last year, BTC's net profit was up 2.45% over the same period a year earlier to 182.6 mln lev ($121.6 mln). Total assets stood at 1.54 bln levs.
18-01-2005
The bourse auction of the 35% state-owned stake in former telecom monopoly BTC will kick off on January 27 with all 2,869,500 shares hitting the pit on the very first day, Bulgaria's Privatisation Agency (PA) said on Thursday, January 13. The state-owned BTC shares will trade until February 28. The news of the BTC offering was eagerly anticipated by the capital market. The listing of the state-owned stake on the non-cash segment of the stock exchange was preceded by a sharp rally in the price of compensation instruments, issued to owners of property nationalised during the communist era that cannot be restored to them in its physical boundaries, which will be eligible payment instrument for the transaction. The idea of the simultaneous floating of all shares comprising the state's interest in BTC is to achieve the highest possible sale price.
10-12-2004
Bulgaria will list its residual 35% stake in telecom BTC on the local bourse in late January or early February 2005, Dnevnik learned from sources close to the deal.
The Privatisation Agency and the tie-in of UBB, the National Bank of Greece and Bulbrokers which has been hired to handle the bourse privatisation of the BTC equity have agreed to float the entire 35% stake in a single auction to prevent huge fluctuations in the price of shares and of the compensation instruments that will be eligible means of payment, the same sources said.
The minimum lot that will be offered on the bourse will contain one share in a bid to attract as many investors as possible.
The anticipation of the BTC listing has already lifted the compensation instruments to 70% of nominal value. The sale of the minority BTC stake is expected to absorb compensation instruments with a nominal value of between 300 mln and 600 mln levs.
The compensation instruments were issued to owners of property nationalised during the communist era that cannot be restored to them in its physical boundaries./Dnevnik/
02-12-2004
The candidate buyers for Bulgaria's thermal power plants (TPPs) in Bobov Dol, Rousse and Varna will have to meet three prequalification criteria before gaining entry to the actual privatisation procedure, the Privatisation Agency (PA) said on Wednesday.
The three power plants could fetch between 150 mln and 200 mln euro in privatisation proceeds. Ten percent of the deal price will be payable in non-cash instruments.
Eligible investors should certify the production and transmission in the respective national power grid of 2 bln kWh of electricity for each of the past three years. The power output should be generated by the investor's proprietary facilities which should have a combined capacity of at least 1,000MW. The candidates should have own capital of 500 mln euro and a credit worthiness rated B+ by S&P or B1 by Moody's.
The prequalification requirements will allow the buyers of Bulgaria's seven electricity distribution companies - Czech CEZ, Austria's EVN and Germany's E.ON, to bid for the three TPPs, energy ministry sources said.
The PA expects to wind up the prequalification round by early January 2005 and to be in a position to solicit binding offers in March.
In contrast to the sell-off procedure for the power distributors, each of the candidates for the TPPs will be allowed to bid for and acquire all three facilities.
The PA said consortia and specially constituted bidding vehicles will be barred from the procedure. The agency is yet to determine the size of investment commitments that will be required from the buyers.
The three TPPs have a combined capacity of 2,000MW. The Varna TPP and Toplofikacia Rousse have 20-year electricity production licences while that of the Bobov Dol plant has a 10-year term of validity. TPP Varna runs primarily on Russian and Ukrainian coal while TPP Bobov Dol uses local coal. The three utilities will need to ingest between 70 mln and 105 mln euro to meet relevant EU emission standards by 2016. After Bulgaria opens the domestic power market fully to competition in 2007, the new owners of the TPPs will be allowed to market their output abroad.
In related news, the PA said it has suggested to the energy ministry three options for the district heating company based in Lovech which has failed to attract buyers. The sell-off agency has proposed to liquidate the utility, to transfer its ownership to the Lovech municipality free of charge or to privatise it on local bourse at one of the centralised public auctions./Dnevnik/
23-11-2004
Blagoevgrad BT, the top profit-making decision of Bulgartabac Holding, will probably be decoupled from Slantse-Stara Zagora BT, two were paired off in July and put up for privatisation, and sold on its own, it emerged after economy minister Lidia Shuleva submitted to parliament a report on the progress in the denationalisation of the tobacco monopoly's subsidiaries.
The Blagoevgrad BT/Slantse BT package failed to attract any buyers but the other equity package, made up of cigarette factories Sofia BT and Plovdiv BT, received an offer from British American Tobacco.
What deterred investors from bidding for the Blagoevgrad BT/Slantse BT package was the anticipated high cost of restructuring at the Stara Zagora-based mill. Slantse BT has accrued losses of 9.7 mln levs and current liabilities of 27.1 mln levs. The fate of the Stara Zagora mill remains unclear after the break-up of the Blagoevgrad BT/Slantse BT equity pool. It will probably be marketed to buyers on its own or restructured and its cigarette-making licence revoked.
If Bulgaria is to have operational cigarette factories after 2007, the tentative deadline for EU accession, production should concentrate in no more than two mills - Sofia BT and Blagoevgrad BT, the report says.
Domestic sales of Bulgarian cigarettes are seen at 18,000 tons in 2005 and will fall below 13,000 tons by 2007 under pressure from new labelling requirements, contraband imports, price hikes and smoking restrictions. After EU accession, the domestic market share of Bulgarian cigarettes will shrink to 30-35%, the report says.
The tobacco processing units of Bulgartabac Holding have no more room for cost-cutting and operational streamlining. The 2004 tobacco crop should be processed primarily at Gotse Delchev BT, Kardjali BT and Pazardjik BT.
No investors are interested in the Bulgartabac factories based in Dulovo, Dupnitsa, Isperih, Sandanski, Yambol and Pazardjik. Most of them will be auctioned off or dismembered and sold off asset by asset. The public companies among the unfancied processing factories could be sold on the local bourse.
The decrease in tobacco purchased by Bulgartabac will not affect domestic tobacco growers because of the ongoing investment in modern industrial capacity, the report says./Dnevnik/
18-11-2004
The majority owner of Petrol AD, Petrol Holding, will reduce its shareholding in the fuel retailer from 92.57% to around 70% after planned capital raise, Petrol CFO Orlin Todorov said on Wednesday.
The Petrol shareholders will vote in early December on a proposal to raise capital by 36 mln levs through the issue of 36 mln new shares with a nominal value of 1 lev and issue price of 4 levs. The issue price will depend on the price of the global depository receipts (GDR) program for the company's shares that will be marketed to international investors. One GDR will be equal to 4 Petrol shares.
The dollar-denominated GDP program will target exclusively non-U.S. institutional investors and will happen in late 2004 or early 2005. Towards the end of the book-building process, Petrol and ING Bank will engage in one or several repo transactions. After the capital raise, Petrol Holding reacquire its Petrol shares while the GDRs, secured with the new share issue, will remain with the depository bank.
The whole idea is to increase the free float and achieve a more accurate price for the company shares, Todorov said.
The proceeds from the Petrol capital raise will be invested in the company's nation-wide network of 450 filling stations - the nation's biggest, in the modernisation of the petrol bases and in the development of the retailer's fuel storage business./Dnevnik/
15-11-2004
Bulgarian tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding has received five bids for four of the 12 tobacco processing factories it had put up for sale.
More details about the offers will be made public after they are reviewed by the managing bodies of the holding company.
Trakia Tabac, Finance Consulting 2002, Zaara-Yancho Ivanov, Company Bild Commerce (owned by the central Co-operative Bank) and AKB Fores submitted offers for Parvomai BT, Smolyan BT, Topolovgrad BT and Harmanli BT before the November 12 expiry of the receipt deadline.
The Bulgartabac factories based in Dulovo, Dupnitsa, Isperih, Sandanski, Yambol and Pazardjik failed to attract buyers despite initial buzz. Bulgartabac's Kardjali BT and Gotse Delchev BT subsidiaries did not excite investor interest at any stage of the privatisation procedure.
Gotse Delchev BT and Pazardjik BT were the only profit-makers among the Bulgartabac processing factories in the first half of 2004. The collective red ink of the factories towers at 65 mln levs. The biggest debtors are Kardjali BT, with 22.8 mln levs, Gotse Delchev BT, with 8.7 mln levs, and Yambol BT with 8.3 mln levs.
The supervisory board of the holding is expected to decide this week the fate of the privatisation procedure for the company's top four mills. British American Tobacco (BAT) was the only candidate buyer to file an offer for one of the equity packages but the exact cash bid for the Sofia BT and Plovdiv BT cigarette factories has not been made public./Dnevnik/
10-11-2004
Bulgaria's Telecommunication Company AD (BTC) went public Wednesday after receiving the approval of the state Financial Supervision Commission.
The Commission entered in the public register an issue of 8,250,424 BTC shares with a par value of BGN35.00 each, Commission member Milcho Stoimenov said.
BTC's shareholders include Vienna-based Viva Ventures Holding AD, a unit of U.S.-British equity house Advent International, which holds 65% of the company stock and Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport and Communications, which owns 35%.
The government is planning to sell 20% of its stake in BTC for compensatory bills at the Sofia Stock Exchange.
It has agreed that BTC be listed at the exchange within six months from its privatisation, which was completed on last June 11.
29-10-2004
Only one offer for "Sofia BT - Plovdiv BT" pool was submitted by the final timeterm - 5 p.m. today, 29 October 2004. The bidder is British American Tobacco.
No offers were submitted for the other pool "Blagoevgrad BT - Slantce Stara Zagora BT". Details for the offer will be announced in the beginning of next week.
28-10-2004
The new owner of BTC, Bulgaria's dominant fixed-line telecom carrier, has indicated that the listing of a 20% stake in company on the Bulgarian stock exchange should not happen before the six-month validity of the relevant clause in the privatisation contract expires, Bulgarian telecom minister Nikolai Vasilev said on Wednesday.
Under the 280 mln euro contract for the acquisition of a 65% stake in BTC by Vienna-based Viva Ventures, a vehicle of global private equity firm Advent International, any bourse listing is subject to the approval of the new owner for a period of six months after the deal is signed. After the clause expires, the listing can happen without the prior consent of the majority owner.
BTC representatives said on Wednesday that the procedure for the entry of the company in the public register of the Financial Supervision Commission is already underway.
The bourse listing is side-tracked to allow for the smooth restructuring of the telecom, a process that would be complicated if the company went public, experts said.
The listing should happen in the lifetime of the incumbent government, Vasilev said.\Dnevnik\
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