Invest-IQ

American energy company SunEdison has just received EUR 155 mln in funding from three top organizations – World Bank Group member IFC, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and UniCredit Bank, Austria – to build a solar plant in Bulgaria with a capacity of 60.4 MWp, at Karadzhalovo. The site has been identified as being in Plovdiv [...]

Credit rating organization Fitch is likely to take action against the credit rating of Turkcell should a move be made to formalize the offer to buy the intended 94 percent stake in the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC). The unveiled warning came a day after Turkcell’s announcement that it would make a bid that its competitor, [...]

Pamplona Capital Management, the London based private equity firm, has submitted a bid for Bulgarian telecom operator Vivacom. The Sofia-based Vivacom is a so-called quadruple play phone operator that offers fixed-line, mobile service, broadband and television services in one bill. The company had reported an EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of 343 [...]

Four suitors, Telekom Austria, Turkcell of Turkey, Corporate Commercial Bank of Bulgaria and Icelandic businessman Thor Bjorgolfsson, are rumoured to be in the takeover race for Bulgarian telecom operator Vivacom. Known as the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) earlier, Vivacom’s bid period ends in about a month.  

EVN Bulgaria Elektrosnabdyavane and EVN Bulgaria Elektrorazpredelenie, units of power utility EVN Bulgaria, received the approval of the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) of Bulgaria on Dec. 6 to go ahead with its proposed public offering. The government plans to divest 33 percent in both the companies and will be offloading 156,400 shares of EVN Bulgaria [...]

Sopharma, the pharmaceutical company based in Bulgaria, has finally been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange after years of preparation. The company officially started trading on November 30, with more than 5,000 shares traded during the beginning of the day’s trading at around 8 zlotys or 3.74 leva per share, while the same day saw [...]

VTB Capital, the investment arm of the Russian Federation’s second largest lender, VTB Group, has completed the acquisition of Bulgarian cigarette maker Bulgartabac Holding with a EUR 100.1 mln (USD 136.8) investment that equated to a 79.83 percent stake in one of Europe’s leading cigarette manufacturing companies and Bulgaria’s market dominator. As part of the [...]

Three power distribution companies operating in Bulgaria are expected to go into IPO mode within the next three months. The local units of EVN (Austria), E.ON (Germany) and CEZ (Czech Republic), in which the Bulgarian government has 33 percent minority stakes after the remaining share was sold in 2004, will be listed on the country’s [...]

The Bulgarian division of CallPoint New Europe Ltd., Cyprus, has garnered a EUR 3 mln minority equity investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The funds will go towards expanding operational capacity up to 2,000 seats by 2013. The investment leaves 79 percent of the company with the original 100 percent stakeholders, but [...]

The board of financial and industrial group, Eurohold Bulgaria, has approved a plan to float shares in the Warsaw Stock Exchange apart from its current listing on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. In addition to floating more than 108 mln shares, the company will subsequently issue 36.2 mln new shares at BGN 1.5 per share (against [...]

VC firm Venture Equity Bulgaria has upped its holding in domestic agricultural land fund Mel Invest Holding AD from just under 50 percent to over 90 percent.

BT Invest, an Austrian registered investment firm owned by Russian bank VTB, offered EUR 100.1 million for Bulgartabac. Bulgartabac is currently a state-owned entity. The transaction amount would account for 5,881,380 shares of the company, or nearly 80% of its capital. The bid is EUR 100,000 higher than the starting price set by the Bulgarian [...]

Unilever, a Dutch-Anglo consumer goods company has announced that its South Central European Division has acquired Darko from the Balkan Accession Fund (BAF). Darko is the second largest ice cream maker in Bulgaria. Final approval from the Commission on Protection of Competition is all that is left to close the deal. Darko (www.darko.bg) Darko was [...]

Fama Serdika, a Bulgarian milk and dairy company, was sold to Fermer 2006, by Spanish equity fund GED. Fermer 2006 has ties to the large Bulgarian food company Bella Bulgaria. As of May 20, 2011 the company lists a new owner and board of directors for the company. Fama Serdika (www.fama-serdika.bg) Fama Serdika is the [...]

Expat Capital, a Bulgarian financial company, has purchased a 20% share of Eurohold Bulgaria. Eurohold is a local financial and industrial group. The sale took place on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange with shares selling for 1.215 leva per share. Total sale was valued at 26.4 million leva. StarCom Holding, Eurohold’s largest shareholder agreed to the [...]

Bulgaria’s Sila Holding has announced the 100% acquisition of KD Investments, the local investment arm of Slovenia’s KD Group. The deal comes on the heels of last year’s sale of KD Life, the Bulgarian insurance unit of KD Group, to a local company named Finance Consulting. Both Sila Holding and Finance consulting are linked to [...]

Animal pharma company Huvepharma will have a new investor shortly, asCiti Venture Capital International (CVCI) recently announced an agreement to purchase up to 38% of the company for an undisclosed sum. CVCI has been tracking Huvepharma for several years and is convinced that the company’s substantial pipeline of new products means a high potential for strong, [...]

Eurohold Bulgaria is getting back to its core businesses of auto sales, leasing, and insurance, by selling its entire production portfolio. Eurohold will also divest itself of several real estate projects and a hotel. Company officials indicated that the various buyers are a combination of Bulgarian companies and executives of the targeted assets. If the [...]

A handful of investors in Slovenian food supplier, Mercator, are looking to sell their shares in the company to Mid Europa Partners. Slovenian bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, is reportedly talking with Mid Europa about a deal to sell their 10.75% stake. Arkas, the Ljubljana-based financial adviser managing the sale, has indicated that four other banks [...]

Mid Europa Partners, the independent CEE private equity firm formed by EMP Europe, is ramping up its expansion efforts in the Bulgarian television market. Having acquired Interaktivni Tehnologii AD (ITV) late last year for an undisclosed sum, Mid Europa has committed to investing €45 million in Bulgaria, which includes the amount payed for ITV. The company [...]