ENCOURAGING
On June 25, Encouragement Bank signed a credit line agreement with Investbank. The money will be used by Investbank to fund SMEs. The debt has a two-year duration. This is not Encouragement Bank’s first credit line agreement. Since early 2007 it has given credit lines to International Asset Bank and Allianz Bulgaria.

THE LARGEST
On June 22 Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, a subsidiary of Raiffeisen International, signed an agreement on a syndicated bank loan of 325 million euro payable in two years, the bank said. The major syndicate banks are Bayern LB, BNP Paribas, Erste Bank der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG and Mizuho Corporate Bank. The loan will be used for general financial purposes. The initial amount was 200 million euro, but because of interest among other banks, it was decided to increase the amount to 325 million euro.

This is the largest syndicated facility granted to a Bulgarian bank so far, Momchil Andreev, chairperson of the governing board and executive director of Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, said.

RICHER BY 1.2 PER CENT
The foreign exchange assets of Bulgarian National Bank’s (BNB) issue department totalled 18.3 billion leva on June 22. This was up by 1.2 per cent from a week earlier, BNB said on June 25.

EXPRESS LOAN
The Bulgarian unit of French banking group Societe Generale, Expressbank, has lent 80 million euro to Bulgaria-based Belgian-Turkish soda ash producer Solvay Sodi. The money will be used for working capital and investment financing, Expressbank said on June 25. The loan has a five-year term and will finance mainly the introduction of European Union ecological standards at Solvay’s power plant Deven, the bank said in a statement. Another part of the loan will be used for a 25 per cent increase inoutput capacity to 1.5 million metric tons. This capacity increase is part of an investment programme of 100 million leva over three years, Solvay said.

FULL MEMBERSHIP
The Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABI) has been admitted to full membership of the European Insurance Committee (CEA), ABI governing board chairperson Orlin Penev said. Until now the ABI was an associated member of CEA. CEA brings together 31 European insurance organisations.

VIENNA MERGER
Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) will complete the merger of its Bulgarian units Bulgarski Imoti and Bulstrad in early 2008, according to Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily. After the merger, the insurers will operate under the brand Bulstrad Vienna Insurance Group, Dnevnik said on June 25. In April 2007 VIG wrapped up the acquisition of 60 per cent in TBIH Financial Services Group, becoming majority owner of general insurer Bulstrad and its life insurance arm. The Austrian insurer controls nearly 100 per cent of general and life insurance companies Bulgarski Imoti and Bulgarski Imoti Life. Bulstrad ranked first in Bulgaria with a premium income of 59 million leva for the first quarter of 2007 and a 20 per cent market share.