Trading in shares of Bulgarian based DZI Bank, majority-owned by Greek EFG Eurobank Ergasias, was stopped on April 18, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) said in a statement.

The previous day, Bulgaria's financial regulator de-listed DZI Bank from the BSE. The move followed a March decision by DZI Bank shareholders to de-list the company from the BSE. Final trading in DZI Bank shares took place on April 12, when two DZI shares changed hands at nine leva, up 8.3 per cent from the previous close.

EFG Eurobank owns 99.75 per cent of DZI Bank as of the end of March. The Greek company bought 74.26 per cent of DZI Bank for 157.8 million euro from Bulgarian financial group DZI in December 2006 and subsequently raised its stake through a buyout offer and deals on the BSE.

EFG Eurobank Ergasias plans to merge DZI with its Bulgarian subsidiary Postbank later this year to create the fourth largest bank by assets in Bulgaria.

In other news, the BSE saw a lot of action in the field of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). On April 17 stock indices went down because of selling aimed to raise cash for impending IPOs.

The blue-chip Sofix index, that includes the 16 most liquid shares on the BSE, lost 0.85 per cent to close at 1266.04 points and the broader BG40 index went down by 0.67 per cent to 249.65 points.

"I think it is because of the forthcoming IPOs. Small investors are selling," Georgi Biserinski, an investment consultant with Slovenian-owned KD Securities brokerage, told wire agency SeeNews. On April 17, orders exceeded 4.5-fold the number of shares offered as part of the IPO of Todoroff Winery. The company offered a total of 1.1 million shares. The price stood at 1.8 leva a share.

The issue value of the shares was 1.6 leva a share. About 33.96 per cent of the orders were met at a price of 1.8 leva a share.

Several IPOs are expected to take place on the BSE in coming months. Among them are those of domestic First Investment Bank, Corporate Commercial Bank and mineral extracting and processing company Kaolin. Among losers on April 17 was Bulgarian River Shipping Company (BRP), part of industrial conglomerate Chimimport, which lost 7.39 per cent to close at 213 leva on volume of just 148 shares, after Chimimport said it would sell a quarter of BRP's capital at a minimum price of 180 leva. Shares in Chimimport lost 0.41 per cent to 9.55 leva with 255 700 shares changing hands. Bulgarian American Credit Bank together with the real estate fund Elana were among the associations which attracted interest. They supported the Sofix. The bank reached a new record of 70.62 leva a stock.