Investment fund Equest Investment Balkans (EIB), which is listed on the alternative segment of the London Stock Exchange, plans to sell out assets to buy back shares and boost liquidity under a new strategy outlined in its first-half financial report.

The report did not specify which assets, but said that the company would narrow its real estate portfolio, estimated by consultants CB Richard Ellis at 78.8 million euro in June 2008.

Georgi Kroumov, one of EIB's executive directors, confirmed the news, saying that the company would sell the assets that could fetch the heftiest return.

EIB recently announced plans to sell the site of the former Sofia downtown hotel Serdika to the property unit of Austrian insurer Uniqa, although the deal has not yet been sealed.

EIB has five holiday and housing projects in the country. Its biggest real estate project is Super Borovets, which aims to build the winter resort into a fashionable ski destination. The business plan for the project envisions more than 800 million euro in investment.

On that list is Novera, the firm whose three subsidiaries hold the concessions on cleaning capital Sofia, according to Kroumov. Novera results disappointed this year, the company posting a revenue of 12 million euro and profit of 2.3 million euro in the first six months of the year, which prompted EIB tobegin talks with an unnamed investor for the sale of a "serious stake" in Novera, he said.

Equest's prized possesion is electronics retailer Technomarket Domo, which posted a consolidated turnover of 260 million euro for the first half of the year, up 17 per cent from the same period of 2007. Its pre-tax profit doubled to 11.6 million euro. Technomarket's planned public offering, however, has been delayed over concerns about ailing global markets.

Source: dnevnik.bg