The profit of the banking system for the first four months of this year increased by 14.5% yoy and amounted to BGN 454 million. This is by BGN 58 million more than the same period last year, according to the data of the Bulgarian National Bank bank (BNB). The central bank estimates that in April the assets of the banking system increased by 0.3% (BGN 287 million) to BGN 108.5 billion. Loans and advances, cash, securities portfolios and non-current assets and groups for release, classified as held for sale increased. Decrease was reported in cash balances in central banks and other deposits of sight. At the end of April, the balance sheet money, cash balances with central banks and other sight deposits held 17.7% of total assets, and securities portfolios - 12.4%.

The gas link Bulgaria - Serbia should start operating in 2022. This was confirmed by energy ministers Temenuzhka Petkova and Aleksandar Antić after talks held in Belgrade. Construction of necessary infrastructure is key to achieving energy security and competition in gas supplies for the Southeast European region, the two ministers said. Minister Petkova told her counterpart about the development of the Greece-Bulgaria connector, which is due to start working next year and secure agreed 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from the Shah Deniz 2 deposit in Azerbaijan.

Acronis Bulgaria, a unit of Switzerland-based software company Acronis, will invest some BGN 1.2 million in the expansion of its R&D centre in Sofia, Bulgaria's economy ministry said. Acronis Bulgaria will expand its operations by the creation of a European centre for cyber protection, artificial intelligence and blockchain projects, as part of its existing R&D centre, and will hire an additional 130 software engineers in the process. The expansion is related to the development of a new product, Acronis Total Protection (ATP), that will prevent malware attacks and cut operating expenses. In September, Acronis acquired software engineering company T-Soft following successful partnership between them. After the conclusion of the deal, T-Soft was renamed to Acronis Bulgaria. Acronis Bulgaria has said that it plans to invest USD 50 million in the development of its Sofia R&D centre over the next three years. Acronis, founded in 2003 in Singapore, is active in cyber protection and hybrid cloud storage technology. Enhanced by AI-based Active Protection technology, blockchain-based authentication and hybrid-cloud architecture, Acronis protects all data in any environment, including physical, virtual, cloud, mobile workloads and applications.

Germany's Varengold Bank has agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Bulgarian peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Klear, with the deal expected to be wrapped up by the end of June. Varengold Bank will invest BGN 1.5 million in Klear in the form of an equity investment and a loan which will be used to expand the platform's operations in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe (SEE). Varengold Bank did not clarify what part of the total sum will be in the form of an equity investment and what part a loan. According to commercial register data, Klear Lending, which operates the platform, has a registered capital of some BGN 1.956 million. At the end of 2017, the company was majority owned by private investor Loic Le Pichoux, who held a 72.87% stake. The company booked a net loss of BGN 476,000 in 2017, compared to a net loss of BGN 15,000 in 2016, according to its latest available financial statement. Klear Lending's operating revenue increased sharply to BGN 619,000 in 2017 from BGN 32,000 in 2016. Varengold Bank set up a branch in Bulgaria in last year and announced at the time that the branch is the lender's first step towards expanding its operations across SEE.

Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has imposed a BGN 3,520 fine on local ride-share company Taxi Maxim over unfair competition practices. Taxi Maxim is in breach of loyal commercial practices, because it enjoys an unfair economic advantage to registered taxi transportation services that meet the necessary requirements. The company is managing two ride-sharing apps, Maxim and Taxsee Driver, since February 2015. Its operations, which are similar to licensed taxi transportation services, violate the country's legislation on taxi services for transportation of passengers. The fine is equal to 8% of the company's net sales revenue in 2018. In March, the vehicles of Taxi Maxim drivers who have committed administrative violations have been banned from use by the Bulgarian prosecutor's office for six months. Taxi Maxim is a wholly-owned unit of Dominican Republic-registered High Technology Management Corporation.

Bulgarian Real Estate Fund REIT (BREF) said that its has signed a six-year agreement with Robert Bosch Bulgaria for the lease of 2,749 sq. m. of its building in Sofia Tech Park, which is currently under construction. With the new agreement, BREF has pre-leased 8.5% of the building named Synergy Tower. In 2017, BREF signed a BGN 9.65 million agreement with Sofia Tech Park to obtain the right for the construction of a multifunctional office building with a total built up area of up to 35,000 sq m. The company received a building permit in December 2018, and launched construction of the EUR 33 million building in the first quarter of this year. Robert Bosch Bulgaria is a wholly-owned unit of Germany's Robert Bosch.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of Bulgarian lenders UniCredit Bulbank at 'BBB-' and of United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) at 'A-', with negative and stable outlook, respectively. The affirmation of Bulbank's and UBB's ratings reflects Fitch's opinion that there is a high and extremely high probability that they would be supported, if required, by their respective parents - UniCredit S.p.A. and KBC Bank, the rating agency said in a statement. Bulbank's VR of 'bb+' is one notch above our assessment of the Bulgarian operating environments and is underpinned by its robust capitalisation and solid profitability through the cycle. The VR also reflects stable funding, comfortable liquidity and its leading domestic market franchise and substantial resolution of bad debts to normalised levels. UBB's VR of 'bb' is underpinned by its robust funding and liquidity profile, strong capitalisation and significant restructuring of its legacy impaired loans. At end-2018, the banks' impaired loans ratios (comprising Stage 3 loans) were 6.2% (Bulbank) and 15.4% (UBB), compared with the sector average of about 11%. The ratio of all loan-loss allowances to impaired loans was strong at Bulbank (88%) and moderate at UBB (50%). At end-1Q19, Bulbank was one of the two largest banks in Bulgaria and controlled almost 20% of sector's assets. UBB was ranked third with a market share of about 11%. Both banks are classified as systemically important credit institutions by the Bulgarian central bank. Bulbank and UBB's VR upgrade would require an improvement of the operating environment or strengthening of the UBB's overall credit risk profile (particularly a further significant reduction of its high impaired loans).

Infinеоn Тесhnоlоgiеs АG is сlоsе tо а dеаl tо асquirе Сурrеss Sеmiсоnduсtоr Соrр., ассоrding tо реорlе fаmiliаr with thе mаttеr. Тhе соmраniеs соuld аnnоunсе аn аgrееmеnt vаluing Сурrеss Sеmi аt аlmоst $10 billiоn, inсluding dеbt, аs sооn аs Моndау, sаid thе реорlе, whо аsкеd nоt tо bе idеntifiеd аs thе dеtаils аrеn’t рubliс. Infinеоn will рау $23 tо $24 реr shаrе fоr Сурrеss Sеmi, twо оf thе реорlе sаid, а рrеmium оf mоrе thаn 50% оvеr thе stоск рriсе bеfоrе Вlооmbеrg rероrtеd lаst wеек thаt thе сhiрmакеr wаs соnsidеring а sаlе аftеr rесеiving tакеоvеr intеrеst. Сурrеss Sеmi shаrеs сlоsеd аt $17.82 оn Fridау, giving thе соmраnу а mаrкеt vаluе оf $6.5 billiоn. А rерrеsеntаtivе fоr Sаn Jоsе-bаsеd Сурrеss Sеmi dесlinеd tо соmmеnt. А rерrеsеntаtivе fоr Nеubibеrg, Gеrmаnу-bаsеd Infinеоn didn’t immеdiаtеlу rеsроnd tо а rеquеst fоr соmmеnt. Infinеоn, with а mаrкеt vаluе оf 18.2 billiоn еurоs ($20 billiоn) hаs mоstlу sаt оn thе sidеlinеs оvеr thе раst fivе уеаrs аs thе sеmiсоnduсtоr industrу hаs bееn rеshареd bу dеаlmакing. In 2017, it tеrminаtеd аn аgrееmеnt tо асquirе thе Wоlfsрееd Роwеr unit оf LЕD аnd lighting mакеr Сrее Inс. аftеr а U.S. nаtiоnаl sесuritу rеviеw.

Elon Musk’s second-most famous business may soon top his first. The value of SpaceX has risen to $33.3 billion, people familiar with the company’s recent fundraising told CNBC. In an amendment of its April fundraising effort, a filing last week from SpaceX showed the company’s latest round brought in $536 million at a price of $204 a share. SpaceX has raised just over $1 billion this year, as the company accelerates fundraising to develop its plan to beam high-speed internet to anywhere on Earth. Additionally, Musk’s space company is now more valuable than his electric vehicle company. Tesla shares closed down on Friday giving the company a market value of $32.8 billion – just below SpaceX’s valuation. SpaceX’s valuation has risen steadily as the company has raised funding for rockets, spacecraft and more over the past decade. Most recently, SpaceX was reportedly valued at $30.5 billion. The company has been able to draw investment from private markets with ease, as a person familiar with SpaceX’s fundraising this year said both its equity raises were oversubscribed. In the most recent round, investor demand meant SpaceX could have raised between $300 million to $400 million more than it did, the person said.

Ineos is to spend $2bn building three chemicals plants in Saudi Arabia, heralding the first investment in the Middle East by the business controlled by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. The privately owned group will construct the facilities at a vast petrochemicals complex being developed in the oil-rich kingdom. The scheme adds to a string of big-ticket projects at Ineos, which has ambitions to expand into China, become a major player in oil and gas, and is planning to enter the car market with a 4x4 off-road vehicle. Tom Crotty, a director at Ineos, said the investment fitted into the company’s strategy of becoming more global. “Our footprint has traditionally been in Europe and North America. Two areas we don’t [have a presence in] and are looking to build in are China and the Middle East. That helps to spread risk,” he said. Founded two decades ago, Ineos has grown through acquisitions to become one of the largest chemicals producers. The Amiral petrochemicals project, a $5bn joint venture between state-owned Saudi Aramco and French energy group Total announced last year, will supply the feedstock to the new Ineos plants. Ineos has signed a memorandum of understanding with both companies.