Bik Bild, a subsidiary of Bulgarian Holding Company, gained 150 000 leva from a single deal on the Sofia Stock Exchange (BSE) on April 10.
Bik Bild sold more than 100 000 shares in Gabrovo-based Simat at 4.49 a share. Bik Bild got the money for 33.95 per cent of Simat’s capital. Bik Bild is 100 per cent owned by Bulgarian Industrial Company, which in turn is 99 per cent owned by Bulgarian Holding Company.
The same day, more than half of the minority shareholders in Bulgarian battery maker Energia Ltd. accepted a buyout offer by majority stakeholders.
Energia-97 and Energia Consult jointly own more than 90 per cent of Energia Ltd. US industrial battery maker EnerSys had agreed to buy their stakes for a total of about 13 million euro. The US company proposed to pay 49.57 leva for each of the 35 057 shares of Energia Ltd. held by minority shareholders.
A total of 12 individuals holding 18 854 shares, and two companies holding 5060 shares had accepted the offer, Energia Ltd. said in a statement to the BSE. The majority shareholders of Energia Ltd. plan to de-list the company from the BSE.
The first week of April and Easter served the BSE well and the broad BG40 index of the most traded stocks hit a record on April 10. BG40 reached an all-time high 257.54 points. The blue-chip Sofix also increased by 2.97 per cent returning to the zone of 1300 points. DZI stocks dropped in price by 3.62 per cent while Bulstrad lost 4.77 per cent of its value. Up was Chimimport whose stocks increased by 7.81 per cent.
This brought optimism to BSE that the upward trend might continue. Positive news was the announcement that nine Bulgarian companies were planning to offer stocks on the BSE. First were Eurohold Bulgaria, followed by White Lagoon, Fia Bulgaria, Alpha credit, and Capital Management. First investment Bank (FIBank) plans to kin them later in the summer. The catalogue for initial public offering of FIBank was presented on April 4. On April 5 the bank applied for approval from the Financial Supervision Commission and it is likely to receive it. Besides the declared 10 million stocks, with which the capital of the bank will be increased, five million of its old stocks are going to be offered as well. If the operation succeeds, the trading share of FIBank on the BSE will reach 13.63 per cent, Bulgarian-language Kapital weekly said. On April 6 BSE saw a change in the stake of Investor.bg company. The same day Lyubomir Lekov, executive director of Investor.bg, received a bonus in the form of stocks amounting to two per cent of the capital of the financial website.
Investor.bg’s average stock price was 8.25 leva a share on April 5, which means that the value of Lekov’s bonus amounts to197 910 leva. Lekov, however, will have to pay nearly 50 000 leva of the sum in taxes. Paying bonuses in stock in Bulgaria is hardly applicable in Bulgaria, Lekov, told the Bulgarian-language Pari daily. Тhe taxes on the bonus have to be paid in cash, while the bonus itself is in stock. If the Bulgarian legislative regulations concerning this matter are aligned with the European ones, the awarding of such bonuses may become a regular practice at Investor.bg, Lekov said.
The bonus helped Lekov increase his stake in Investor.bg to 16.09 per cent.
