Date Target Vendor Investor Size Comment
January 24 8% stakes in two Bulgarian power distributors E.ON Energie EBRD EUR 16.8 m At the end of 2004, Bulgaria sold 67% of the two utilities to E.ON for EUR 140.7 m. The EBRD is in talks to buy stakes in other Bulgarian regional power distributors.
January 23 Construction of concrete prefabricated plant Bulgaria A Bulgaria-Italy JV EUR 2.3 m The joint venture Europrefabricate Bulgaria is formed by Italy's Industrie Maurizio Peruzzo and Bulgarian construction and consultancy firm Naftex Engineering.
January 20 5-6 farm product retail centres Northeastern Bulgaria Bulgarian grain and oil-bearing crops trader Farin EUR 10.2 m Farin opened its first retail centre, where it had invested nearly BGN 1.5 m, in the autumn of 2005.
January 20 Construction of 800 apartments Varna Municipality UK's Orchid Developments Group Limited N/A The developer opened in Jun '05 the 4-star 641-bed Yavor hotel in the Zlatni Pyasatsi resort and is currently building on an adjacent site another 167-room hotel.
January 18 Syndicated loan Bulgaria's fixed-line telecom BTC Lead manager Citibank EUR 350 m The money will be used to refinance a 285 million euro debt and fund BTC's business programme, the company said in late 2005.Novator Telecom Bulgaria, a company owned by Icelandic tycoon Thor Bjorgolfsson, has acquired an option to buy U.S. equity fund Advent's 100% stake in the Vienna-based investment vehicle Viva Ventures, which owns 65% in BTC.
January 18 53,047 sq m land purchase Borovets, one of Bulgaria's most popular ski resorts Britain's Black Sea Property Fund EUR 4.7 m Total development costs are expected to be in the region of 530 euro (incl. VAT) per sq m, including land acquisition, construction and infrastructure costs. Current "as-built" sale prices of comparable properties are estimated by the manager at 1,200 euro (incl VAT) per sq m.
Deals, contracts, tenders and outsourcing for a total value of more than BGN 2 mln. and projects of strategic interest to Bulgaria
With the contribution of SeeNews (published by AII Data Processing Ltd) and Rivas
GOVERNMENT AND EU | REAL ESTATE AND FINANCE | EU TOPICS
Date Subject Institution Comment
January 24 Bulgaria apartment prices up 37% y/y in '05 The National Statistics Institute (NSI) Apartments in Sofia and Varna appreciated by 20-25%, while in Vratsa, Yambol and Silistra the increase topped 70%. Housing remains most expensive in Sofia where prices average 1,222 levs/sq m and cheapest in Vidin, 356 levs/sq m, Kyustendil and Lovech, 365 levs/sq m.
January 24 Only EU buyers eligible for Bulgaria Air sell-off Media Bulgaria will offer almost 100% of national flag-carrier Bulgaria Air for sale in 2006.Air carriers seeking entry to the procedure will have to certify revenues of 150 mln euro for each of the previous 2 years and passenger traffic of at least 750,000.
January 24 Bulgaria to adopt bill regulating offset investment Bulgarian Prime Minister DaimlerChrysler could launch production operations in Bulgaria as part of Bulgaria's deal with the company to supply new vehicles to the country's armed forces.
January 23 EU to call intl tender for equipment for Bulgaria's National Agency of Fisheries and Aquaculture The EU's Official Journal The tender will be divided into two lots - for boats and cars and for communication equipment, respectively.
January 23 Moody's enters into strategic co-operation agreement with Bulgarian credit rating agency Moody's By working together with Moody's, NCRA will be in a better position to assist in the capital allocation process within the Bulgarian financial markets.
January 20 Private equity funds have amassed over EUR 496 m in new capital to acquire eastern European companies Bloomberg Average annual return on investment is 9.5%.
January 19 Bulgaria hikes minimum wage by 6.7% to 0.42 EUR per hour Government The minimum monthly wage rises to 160 levs from 150 levs for a five-day-eight-hour working week.
News and events important for investors related to the Bulgarian legislation, government and EU policy, financial and real estate sectors.
With the contribution of SeeNews (published by AII Data Processing Ltd) and Rivas

Actavis acquires Turkish Fako

Actavis Group, the international generic pharmaceuticals company, has acquired the remaining 11% stake in the Turkish generic pharmaceuticals company Fako for $20.4 m.

Actavis acquired an 89% stake in Fako in December 2003 for USD 63 m. In addition, Actavis agreed to provide Fako with up to $15 m to assist its funding requirements.

Actavis runs three drug making plants in Bulgaria, the company's second-biggest market with sales of some 46 million euro for the first nine months of 2005, equal to 12% of Actavis' total sales.

Dec 2005 Actavis completed the acquisition of Higia, one of Bulgaria's largest drug distributors, for an undisclosed sum.It is expected to add revenues of 90 m to EUR 100 m ($118 m) in 2006.

Actavis had a 12.53% share of the Bulgarian drug market in 2004.
Showcase of important issues, deals, and events.
With the contribution of Rivas
January 25, 2006