Financial news

Business sees risk of damaging the investment environment in Bulgaria because of the amendments to the ownership and use of agricultural land. It provides sanctions against offshore owners of lands and owners with foreign participation outside the European Union (EU). The law was finally adopted last week and will come into force on 1 May. Possession of 1 decare of land by an offshore company will lead to a fine of BGN 100. According to the business it will undermine investor confidence in the Bulgarian institutions. Business associations also expect losses for the pension system as part of their financial resources are invested in shares of companies on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). Public companies with joint market capitalization of over BGN 1.5 billion will be affected by the adopted by the Parliament sanctions for possession of agricultural land by foreigners. The sample includes about 15 large companies that own more than 500 acres of land. Market value of these companies forms about 20% of stock exchanges’ capitalization, assessed at present at nearly BGN 7.1 billion. Among them are agricultural funds, as well as companies engaged in cosmetics, chemical industry, pharmaceutics, and real estates.

While bank lending has been in a stalemate for quite some time, the number of citizens seeking quick loans is on the rise, according to the latest batch of BNB data. Payday loans for households increased by BGN 74.4 million or 5.2% to BGN 1.512 billion in late December 2014 compared to levels of BGN 1.437 billion registered in the equivalent month of 2013. Quick loans for companies, however, posted a decline of BGN 20.6 million year-over-year to BGN 453.1 million in late 2014 against BGN 473.7 million in late 2013. Non-performing payday loans shrank by 8.6% y/y to BGN 549.5 million in late December 2014 against BGN 601.3 million in late 2013. Thus, overdue payday loans accounted to 26.9% of all loans late last year from 30.2% in the equivalent month of 2013, but that does not mean clients of non-bank lenders have become more solvent.

	Mineral Fuels, Tailoring Products, Canning, Perfumery and Cosmetics, Furniture, Meat Products, Wine, Wood-processing Industry

Companies

Bulgaria may offset a shortage of high-tech specialists by speeding Blue Card procedures, said InvestBulgaria Agency Executive Director Stamen Yanev. The Blue Card is an approved EU-wide work permit allowing high-skilled non-EU citizens to work and live in any country within the European Union, excluding Denmark, Ireland and the UK. By changing secondary legislation Bulgaria expects to attract specialists from countries in the grip of geopolitical conflicts such as Ukraine, said Stamenov. He commented that a large number of Ukrainian Bulgarians may come to work in the software industry and receive above average salaries. Changes to secondary legislation will ease the procedure for granting a Blue Card and scrap the so-called market test carried out by the Employment Agency, following calls by business representatives. Citing data by the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association, Yanev said that Bulgaria is attractive for making business in high value-added sectors such as finance, accounting and high technology.

Bosch Software Innovations, a wholly owned subsidiary of German technology giant Bosch Bosch, plans to acquire Cologne-based ProSyst Software, which has a research and development unit in Sofia. Agreements to this effect were signed on February 13, 2015. ProSyst employs some 110 associates in Cologne, Germany, and Sofia, Bulgaria. The company specializes in the development of gateway software and middleware for the 'internet of things'. These facilitate the interaction between connected devices in the smart home, connected industry, and mobility segments. The company’s customers include leading appliance manufacturers, automakers, and chip vendors, as well as telecommunications and energy service providers. The acquisition is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities. It has been agreed that the purchase price will not be disclosed. ProSyst’s solutions are built on the Java programming language and OSGi technology. The Sofia-based R&D lab of ProSyst started functioning in 1998. The Bulgarian-based unit is also the main production base of the German company and has a total headcount of around 90.

The decline of German investments in Bulgaria in January-December 2014 was EUR 338 million, according to official data of BNB, head of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mitko Vassilev commented. He said the decline was not due to German companies leaving the Bulgarian market, but rather, to the transfer of financial resources whereby the loans taken out by the parent companies are now repaid. He said that since major German investors such as E.ON, WAZ and Kloesters left Bulgaria, he did not know other German companies following suit. Vassilev noted that the central bank statistics does not cover follow-up investments, which a number of German companies make in Bulgaria, but only new investments. At the same time, the commercial exchange between Bulgaria and Germany in 2014 will reach record-high levels, Vassilev said. In January-November alone the exchange was EUR 5,395.65 million, whereas it stood at EUR 5,325.75 million for the entire 2013.

Bulgarian industrial and financial group Alfa Finance Holding said it had sought preliminary approval from Macedonia's central bank for the acquisition of the Skopje-based finance house Mak-BS. The acquisition of Mak-BS will allow the group to expand the range of services it offers on the Macedonian financial market, Alfa Finance said in a bourse filing. Alfa Finance Holding operates on the Macedonian financial market as owner of Skopje-based Capital Bank.

Europe

Caixabank of Spain issued a takeover bid for BPI, a Portuguese bank in which it was already the largest investor, in the latest chapter in the shake-up of Portugal’s banking sector. The cash offer values BPI at 1.94 billion euros, or $2.21 billion, meaning that the takeover would be worth EUR 1.08 billion if Caixabank ends up with 100 percent of the equity. The bid represents a 27 percent premium over the Portuguese bank’s closing share price on Monday. Caixabank is offering EUR 1.329 a share for the 55.9 percent of BPI that it does not already own. Caixabank said in a statement that its offer was conditional on its securing at least 50 percent of the total equity and BPI shareholders accepting to remove a restriction on shareholder voting rights. At present, BPI’s rules limit the voting rights of any individual shareholder to 20 percent of the share capital. In 2011, the Portuguese banking sector was allocated EUR 12 billion of a EUR 78 billion international bailout negotiated by Portugal, after the country found itself on the front line of the European debt crisis and unable to meet its debt repayment obligations.

America

Apple is indeed working on a car. The Mac maker kicked off a top-secret project tasked with developing an electric car with a minivan aesthetic, after CEO Tim Cook approved the project nearly a year ago. It includes “hundreds” of staffers and is led by Ford Motor vet and Apple VP Steve Zadesky, and it includes research into battery tech, robotics and metal production. The report comes hot on the heels of a Financial Times story confirming Apple R&D efforts around car tech, and goes further than either that report or an earlier one from Business Insider wherein an Apple employee reportedly confirmed some kind of car-focused project. As I wrote earlier, it makes perfect logical sense that Apple would focus some effort on this area, given the direction in which the tech industry in general is headed. Apple has allotted for as many as 1,000 people to work on the project, according to the newest report, and the team includes former Mercedez-Benz head of R&D Johann Jungwirth.

Asia

China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is taking a $590 million stake in an obscure domestic smartphone maker as the e-commerce giant tests ways to expand its mobile operating system in a shrinking, cut-throat handset market. Extending a previously muted push into hardware, Alibaba said on Monday it will buy an unspecified minority stake in smartphone maker Meizu Technology Co. Dwarfed by rivals like Xiaomi Inc, privately owned Meizu's slice of China's smartphone market is estimated by analysts at below 2 percent. The deal, unlike U.S. rival Amazon.com Inc's foray into smartphones with its own-brand Fire Phone, is designed to help Alibaba push its mobile operating system within China through Meizu's handsets. In return, Zhuhai, Guangdong-based Meizu will get access to Alibaba's e-commerce sales channels and other resources, the companies said in a joint statement. For China's e-commerce king, with a market value of $213 billion market value, the $590 million price tag may be a costly entry fee.

Aladja monastery

The construction and establishment of Aladja monastery is related with the feudatory age of the Bulgaria. It originated during 13-14 century, a period, during which the hermit movement was spreading, known as hesychastism (escape from life). The monastery is quite special because its rooms are situated in artificial caves - "rock rooms", excavated on two floors in the vertical rocks of Stara planina (the Balkan mountain). According to the archeological surveys, on the first floor is situated the church and the monastic cells and on the upper – the chapel. Next to it were buried the dead monks. When Bulgaria fell under Ottoman yoke, the monastery was destroyed and abandoned for good. Aladja monastery is situated 15 km away from Varna. It is cultural and historical monument, which is visited by many foreign tourists.

On that day:  The monastery St. Kirik and Julita Atoluka