BOOK-BUILDING
Book-building for the initial public offering (IPO) of Railway Infrastructure holding company will be held on June 25 to 27, IPO manager United Bulgarian Bank said. The company, majority owned by business tycoon Vassil Bozhkov, plans to offer investors 10 per cent, or 5.58 million shares with a nominal value of one lev. The offering price has been set at five leva.

TRAKIYA OFFER
Road construction company Holding Putishta, another company owned by Bozhkov, said on June 17 that it was capable to build Trakiya Highway and would propose a public-private partnership, Bulgarian daily Dnevnik reported. The company was ready to fund the costs of construction works, offering to finance the costs of the highway’s section between Stara Zagora and Karnobat, which the Government would then pay back.

METRO THREE-POINTER
Metro Cash & Carry Bulgaria plans to invest 150 million leva by 2011 in three new Metro hypermarkets in Pleven, Plovdiv and Veliko Turnovo, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry Bulgaria Willi Beisheim told a news conference at the first expanded and modernised store of the German retailer, which opened in Varna. With the 6.4 million leva upgrade, this hypermarket became the Metro’s first local store to comply with all European Union requirements.

KREMIKOVTZI ON FIRE
About 1000 employees of Kremikovtzi steel mill staged a protest on June 17 in Sofia’s streets, together with steel industry workers from Pernik, Plovdiv and Bourgas. The protest happened a day after Kremikovtzi chief executive officer Jagannadham Guntupalli told a news conference that a new company to manage the steel mill should be set up. Guntupalli said that the factory’s assets would be transferred to another firm by selling them at an auction after the Kremikovtzi‘s creditors sign an agreement to that end.

CONTRACT SIGNED
KG Maritime Shipping and Bulgaria’s Privatisation Agency signed the contract for the sale of 70 per cent in shipping company Navibulgare, Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik reported on June 18. The agency’s supervisory board and the Government have to rubber-stamp the contract before it goes into effect. The Government decided that the contract for the sale of 7.6 million Navibulgare shares, for a total of 440.1 million leva, should be signed 60 days within the Cabinet’s principle approval being published in the State Gazette.