REPRESENTATIVES of top global real estate agencies, banks, and other interested players will take part in the seventh Real Estate and Investment Forum (RINFOR) that opens at the Hilton Hotel in Sofia on June 1.
RINFOR is held twice a year in Sofia and it creates an environment for direct business contacts and exchange of information and ideas among major players in real estate investments, tourism and finance in Bulgaria.
The conferences that have been held in the past have shown that the forum is an important event and a meeting place for Bulgarian and foreign investors, entrepreneurs, hotel keepers, architects, consultants and real estate agents as well as financial institutions and official guests representing state authorities.
Market trends and the potential that Bulgaria offers for developing the real estate business will be the key topics of discussion. Companies and institutions sending representatives include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Immoeast and UBM of Austria, Eurohypo of the UK, Sigma Bleyzer and Colliers International of the US, the Engel Group of Israel, and others.
TK Development, a Danish company that has developed into one of Europe’s largest property development companies, specialising in shopping centres and their associated retail parks and hotel and entertainment centres, will be among the participants. In several countries in Central and Eastern Europe, TK Development collaborates with the largest hypermarket chain in Europe, the French chain Carrefour.
Stewart International of Israel, which is among the world’s biggest corporations dealing with title property guarantees, will take part in RINFOR to research expansion opportunities and co-operation options in the region.
Janet Woo, associate banker Property and Tourism at the EBRD London, will attend the forum and together with Jussi Pohjanpalo, an associate banker at the Bulgarian office of EBRD, will be among speakers in a panel discussion on “Business Buildings in Bulgaria and their Capability to Attract Institutional Investors”. Representatives of the EBRD will present the institution’s activities and the projects they support in South-Eastern Europe and in Bulgaria in particular.
Topics at the forum include a discussion on regeneration of properties as a chance to revitalise disadvantaged areas (organised in association with the British embassy), participation of local construction companies in large-scale investment projects, retail and entertainment centres as new types of investments in Bulgaria, leasing as an alternative for financing real estate investment projects, residential market and its opportunities for growth, and others.