News - Archive

19
May. 2008 Lewis Charles Sofia Property Fund sells 10.3% share in Bulgarian project Lewis Charles Sofia Property Fund announced it would receive 1.89 million euro in gross proceeds from the sale of part of its project in Sofia, Thomson Financial said. Lewis Charles sold 10.3 per cent of the total build area of its project to an unnamed insurance fund, based in Athens, according to investor.bg.

Gross revenue from this disposal, the first made by the fund, would be 10.49 million euro, including development costs and profit share, Thomson Financial quoted the company as saying.

The transaction involved the sale of 61 apartments, 10 offices, six shops and a total of 31 underground garage in its project in the Krastova Vada boroughs, investor.bg said.

The deal represented an average price of 930 euro a sq m for the area sold.

The project was expected to be completed in December 2008 and return on investment was expected to be 24.3 per cent, investor.bg quoted a statement by the fund as saying.

The fund was expected to make further sales in the near future. The Lewis Charles portfolio includes project in Sofia, Govedartsi, Razlog, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Dolna Banya and was estimated at 84 million euro
18
May. 2008 ABB to build $20M plant in Plovdiv Swiss concern ABB gave the go-ahead to a project to build a $20 million (12.92 million euro) plant near Bulgaria’s second largest city Plovdiv, the concern said in a May 15 statement.

The plant will become an internal supplier for ABB, which will manufacture automated components in other factories of the concern.

The plant will spread on 35 000 sq m. Construction works are slated to start in October this year and to be completed by summer 2009.

The new plant is expected to create 500 jobs by 2011. The project is expected to support ABB’s growth in the automated products’ segment, as well as expand its scope of low-voltage products.

ABB is leader in the manufacture of energy and automated equipment for the needs of the electricity distribution network and industry. The concern is present in more than 100 countries and has 110 000 people on the payroll. The concern is the main shareholder of Sevlievo-based ABB Avanguard AD.

15
May. 2008 Sofia Mayor Opens Waste Recycling Plant The Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov participated Thursday in the opening of the new waste recycling plant located in the Filipovtsi Quarter of Buglaria's capital.

The plant is owned by the national company processing collecting and processing wastes ECOBULPACK which has invested over BGN 10 M in its construction.

About 200 new workers will be employed in the new factory, which was completed in ten months.

The plant has two installations - one for the sorting out and recycling of glass, and another one for the sorting and baling of paper and plastic.
13
May. 2008 Bulgaria tourist center opens in Madrid The Tourism Investors Union opened the first Bulgarian Tourist Information Center in Madrid today.

The Center was inaugurated by Sonya Koltuklieva, Chief Secretary of the Union as part of the Week of Europe celebrations held in the capital of Spain.

The Center's main office is located at 97 "Passeo de Habana" street and has two other offices in Madrid. The center's official website is listed as www.oficinadeturismobulgaro.org.

The Center will be the only place in Spain and Portugal where interested individuals will be able to receive tourist information about Bulgaria and make vacation and trip reservations.

The offers for the summer season 2008 are expected to be EUR 200 lower than the ones currently advertised by Spanish tour operators.

Offers for Bulgarians wishing to visit Spain and Portugal such as EUR 170 for a week vacation in Lisbon in a four star hotel, including travel expenses are also very attractive.

The Tourism Investors Union has the ambition to turn the Center into the most powerful tour operator for reservation from Spain and Portugal to Bulgaria and vice-versa.

The future plans include low cost flights from Spain to the airports in Ruse and Plovdiv as soon as the safeguard clause for the private Bulgarian airlines, imposed by the EC is lifted. The lifting of the clause is expected for October, after the results from the auditors' report are revealed.

The airline company Business Air, owned by the Tourism Investors Union's Chairman Vetko Arbadjiev is slated to execute flight for wealthy tourists from Spain and Portugal to Bulgaria.

The Center's inauguration is part of the massive advertising campaign of the Tourism Investors Union in Spain during the Week of Europe. The goal of the campaign is to showcase Bulgaria as an attractive tourist destination.
12
May. 2008 Greek property invasion Over the past two years, Greece has staged a “real onslaught” onto the Bulgarian and other Balkan markets, Greek business newspaper Imerisia reported on May 7.

Greek construction companies, mainly from the northern part of the country, have been building large residential, office and retail developments in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and, recently, Macedonia.

At the same time, hundreds of individual investors have been buying homes, which they either rent or use for recreation. Despite the recent spike in Bulgaria, Greek buyers still believe local property prices to be affordable, Imerisia said.

07
May. 2008 Israeli Company Funds Business Park in Bulgaria’s Varna with EUR 59 M The Israeli company Africa Israel Investments (AFI) is going to fund the construction of the Business Park in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna.

AFI’s subsidiary AFI Europe signed Sunday an agreement with Investcreditbank to provide EUR 59 M for the project.

The Varna Business Park, which is located close to the Varna Airport and to the Black Sea coast, and includes 35 000 square meters of office space plus another 15 000 square meters that are currently undergoing reconstruction.

Only the plot where the Business Park is located together with the three existing buildings is worth EUR 76,5 M.

The first building of the Varna Business Park was opened in July, 2006.

AIF is an Israeli holding company owned by the billionaire Lev Levaev, whose wealth is estimated at USD 6,5 B, and who currently lives in London.

AIF Europe has 32 projects in eight European countries.

06
May. 2008 Credit growth to continue Bulgarian banks continued to boost loan portfolios, though at a slower pace, a survey of the Agency for Economic Analysis and Forecast at the Bulgarian Finance Ministry, carried out among Bulgaria’s commercial banks, showed on May 6.

Banks’ intensive loan activity is mainly driven by available liquidity in the banking system, the desire to retain market share and the favourable macroeconomic environment, according to the report.

The policies of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) aimed at slowing down credit growth were no longer a decisive factor for the bulk of commercial banks, according to the report. This is largely due to the lack of signs that the central bank would resort to the introduction of new restrictions.

Demand for loans in the first quarter of 2008 was generated by the same factors as a year ago. Namely, 90.9 per cent of all banks point to operating funds as the main reason for the search of bank loans.

Furthermore, the minimum mandatory reserves and the more expensive financing on international financial markets has encouraged banks to start attracting resources through deposits.

According to commercial banks, euro-denominated loans and deposits in the household segment will grow at a faster pace compared to expectations. In the meantime, the competition that banks experience from non-banking institutions, leasing companies excluded, would decrease.

01
May. 2008 City Centre Sofia for sale Investment fund Equest Balkan Properties plc (EBP) was considering the sale of the first shopping mall in Bulgaria, City Centre Sofia, Investor.bg quoted Naomi Kora, relations manager for the fund’s investors, on May 1 2008.

Furthermore EBP was also considering the sale of Serdika Forum, former Serdika hotel in downtown Sofia at Vassil Levski monument, and another project in Belgrade.

According to Investor.bg EBP was going to use the evaluation done by CBRE consultancy company, which evaluated EBP’s portfolio of 28 real estates in Bulgaria at 152 million euro.
30
Apr. 2008 House price increases in Bulgaria highest for Europe Second world-wide According to data published by Globalpropertyguide.com, house price increases in Europe over the past year ending in Q4 of 2007, were highest in Bulgaria. Bulgarian houses increased by 34.61 per cent, closely followed by Poland with a 33 per cent increase.

House prices in Estonia increased by 23.38 per cent. Prices in Sweden, Lithuania, Cyprus and Estonia increased by between 11 and 19 per cent. Increases in other European countries were in the single digit range, with Portugal, Latvia and Ireland reporting house price decreases.

According to investor.bg, only Shanghai reported a higher house price increase, at 35.4 per cent.

For the full article, see propertywisebulgaria.com
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Apr. 2008 EASTER IN BULGARIA As the Bulgarian name implies Velikden (Great Day), Easter is one of the most significant holidays in the Bulgarian calendar. Best Bulgarian Estates Ltd. would like to inform you that our office will be not working on 28th April (Monday).

If some of you want to arrange an appointment or a viewing trip with us please call us in advance.