FIRST INVESTMENT BANK
Shares from the First Investment Bank (FIBank) initial public offering (IPO) will not be sold at a minimum or at a maximum price. The Financial Supervision Commission approved the IPO prospectus on April 25. All bids will be ranked at the same price. The IPOs of two other of Bulgaria’s biggest banks, FIBank and Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), are scheduled for May. Investbank’s listing is also attracting interest but the parameters of the auction will be announced in May. FIBank is expected to list 10 million new shares but the total amount on offer will be 15 million shares, meaning 13.6 per cent of the bank’s capital. The difference will be offered by First Financial Brokerage House, which currently holds about 14 per cent, reported Bulgarian-language Novinar.

CREDIT RATINGS
Moody’s Investor Services has upgraded the credit rating of Piraeus Bank Bulgaria, DSK Bank and First Investment Bank, Bulgarian-language Pari daily reported. The ratings reflect the banks’ financial stability, indebtedness and deposits. Moody’s upgraded DSK Bank’s rating from D to D+, the highest rating assigned to any of the three banks. Piraeus Bank Bulgaria financial stability rating was upgraded from E+ to D-. At the same time, FIBank’s credit rating was upgraded from D- to D. Moody’s also confirmed the E+ financial stability rating of Bulgaria’s International Asset Bank and Investbank.

EXPRESSBANK
In 2006, Societe Generale Espressbank (SGE) achieved revenue growth of 55 per cent, a record 40.5 million euro. On April 26, the bank held a shareholders meeting in Varna. SGE net income increased by 15 per cent to 85.1 million euro, while the bank’s assets rose by 16 per cent to 1.249 billion leva. SGE was among the best banks in Bulgaria in profitableness, the bank said. The whole revenue will be re-invested in reserves, with which SGE will assure its development and its capital will reach 181 million leva.

Corporate clients credits increased by 20.29 per cent, reported Bulgarian news agency Mediapool.

UNICREDIT BULBANK
UniCredit Group’s Bulbank is the best Bulgarian bank, according to Global Finance's annual survey Best Banks in Developing Markets 2007. The bank was chosen on the basis of criteria including asset growth, strategic relationships, revenue, client services, competitive prices and products innovativeness. UniCredit Group and its banks have won more than 250 awards as acknowledgement of their achievements in all the countries from Central and East Europe region, a bank media statement said on April 25. The court registration of the new UniCredit Bulbank is in force with effect from April 27 2007. The new financial giant has now more than 4000 employees, more than a million clients, about 300 offices, more than 7.5 billion leva in assets, about 4.5 billion leva loans, 5.3 billion leva stocks and and one billion leva shareholders capital, the bank said.