Investment
The UK's Black Sea Property Fund, which specialises in the financing of sales off-plan of holiday apartments in Bulgaria, announced its decision to invest in the construction of an apartment complex at the Riviera resort, near Varna. The project, Nikea Park, will include a total of 154 apartments. The fund will finance the construction of 118 apartments at the cost of 4.23 million euro. The developer and the construction company are part of the Bulmix Group. The price of the development is 500 euro per sq m.

Lucky Strike
Luki Invest, a Bulgarian mining company, announced plans on May 15 to spend 1.583 million euro in the next five years for the extraction of lead and zinc ore near the city of Plovdiv. Over the next five years, the company will invest $1.15 million in the lead and zinc mine Dzhurkovo and $875 000 in a similar mine, Govedarnika. It is expected to extract a minimum of 80 000 tons of lead and zinc ore from Dzhurkovo and a minimum of 40 000 tons of lead and zinc ore from Govedarnika.

Limits
Bulgaria plans to ban duty-free fuelling of incoming cars and buses. The state will introduce a limit of 500 litres for trucks under a bill on duty-free trade, published on May 11 on the Finance Ministry website. The measures for control on duty-free shops, including installing cameras for non-stop surveillance, will be valid also for filling stations in free zones, the bill envisages. Under the bill, duty-free operators should have real-time online connection to the customs authorities. The bill introduces VAT and excise duty collateral - deposit or bank guarantee upon customs clearance of alcohol, tobacco products and liquefied fuels. Duty-free operators will be levied a four per cent duty-free sales income tax instead of corporate income tax. The bill will be discussed with duty-free operators.

Banned
On May 11, the European Commission (EC) said it had expanded its regionalised import ban on Bulgarian poultry, poultry meat and meat products to a third Bulgarian region due to an outbreak of Newcastle disease there. The ban, already imposed on the regions of Vratsa and Blagoevgrad, will be extended to cover the Bourgas region in eastern Bulgaria, due to an outbreak of the highly contagious bird disease there in middle of April, the European Union executive body said in a statement. The ban on poultry imports from the Bourgas region takes effect immediately. The EC deemed it unnecessary to impose a ban for the whole territory of Bulgaria. Bulgaria's Agriculture and Forestry Ministry already banned in January the export of poultry, live birds and hatching eggs to the EU due to an outbreak of Newcastle disease in the country's southwest.

Opportunities
Bulgarian carriers will be able to increase the volume of cargo transported abroad after Bulgaria joins the European Union, Assen Assenov, Bulgarian Customs Agency director, said at a May 12 seminar in Sofia regarding the TIR regime. Bulgarian companies will be able to choose between two transport systems: NCTS and TIR. At the seminar, Plamen Tsalkov, secretary general of the Association of Bulgarian Road Transport Enterprises, said that the TIR Convention will guarantee transit through countries in the region even after Bulgaria's EU accession. The convention is important for both the state and businesses, he added. Bulgaria joined the TIR Convention back in 1997 but the decision was not promulgated until three years ago.

Problems
The incompetence and corruption within the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs were the among the most serious problems businesses had with the ministry, Vassil Velev, chair of the Industrial Capital Association, said at a special news conference against Environment and Water Affairs minister Djevdet Chakurov's policy on product fees. The Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection Activities (EMEPA) should be audited and controlled according to clear regulations, the way our companies are audited by the ministry, Bulgarian International Business Association chair Sasha Bezuhanova said. It was evident that EMEPA's funds were not used for environmental preservation.

We insist that employer organisations participate in the council on waste, Bulgarian Industrial Association chair Bozhidar Danev said.

Acquisitions
GE Real Estate, a real estate unit of the US General Electric, will acquire 50 per cent in Mall of Sofia in June 2006, the company said on May 12. GE Real Estate will buy the stake in consortium with the Irish company Quinlan Private from Israeli investor Aviv Group and Cinema City International, which hold 25 per cent each. The project will cost 90 million euro, GE Real Estate said. The deal will be finalised after Mall of Sofia is completed. The opening of the mall is scheduled for May 30.

GE Real Estate and Quinlan Private formed a consortium in August 2005, when they acquired the first 50 per cent of the mall. At that stage, the project was estimated to cost 74 million euro. GE bought 30 percent and Quinlan, 20 per cent, for a total of 37 million euro. After the deal is completed both companies will, in practice, share Mall of Sofia.

Seleciton
The consortium formed of Sabev & Partners, EuroFinance and Balkan Advisory Company was selected to be the consultant on the restructuring of Bulgaria's Bulgartabac Holding. The consultant will receive 151 036 euro for the job, plus a 1.65 per cent success fee. Other candidates for the contract were First Financial Brokerage House and Legacom, and Kamburov, Transacta and Bulbrokers.