KUWAITI INTEREST
Kuwaiti diversified investment group Kharafi Group had plans to enter Bulgarian holiday market, SeeNews corporate wire said on June 30.  The move was part of the group’s investment strategy for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The holding group plans to buy land at the Black Sea coast, in Bulgarian mountain resorts as well as in the bigger cities in the next couple of months.  The company will use as an investment vehicle its holding group Sovereign Hospitality Holdings, whose core operations are in the hotel, tourism and real estate sectors in CEE.

BANKING WORRIES
Worries about overdevelopment have made banks introduce stricter requirements on applicants seeking loans to buy property in Bulgaria’s bigger resorts, investor.bg said on June 30. Foreign nationals interested in buying property in Bulgaria and applying for loans from local banks were increasingly being asked to show their credit history for a period of up to six years, the website quoted Tanya Yakimova from Bulgarian Home Loans, a British consultancy firm that focuses on advising foreigners.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS
UK-based Bulgarian Property Developments (BPD) expected to gain 17.1 million euro from the restructuring of its portfolio, SeeNews corporate wire reported on July 1. BPD has exchanged contracts for the sale of its 50 per cent stake in joint venture Varna Logistics to Bulgarian real estate developer FairPlay International, which owns the remaining 50 per cent in the company, for 15 million euro. Completion of the purchase is due on November 7, 2008.  Varna Logistics owns a 132 500 sq m Varna Logistics Park in Bulgaria’s third-largest city of Varna. 

TWO MORE MALLS
Sun City developer plans to build two business centres in the Black Sea town of Bourgas, investor.bg said on June 30.  Construction of the first project in central Bourgas has already started. It will be a 15-storey building and will cover a 4151 sq m plot. Its four underground parking lots will have space for 400 vehicles.  The shopping and entertainment section will cover five floors and will include a supermarket, stores and an entertainment complex with fast food restaurants, a big restaurant, a daily childcare facility, a gym and a spa centre. The second project of the Bourgas-based company will be in the city’s outskirts in Meden Roudnik neighbourhood. The plot has an area of 13 000sq m. It is still in the design stage.