Expressed Interest for Investments in Trade Centers in Bulgaria

On 26 October 2011, the management of BCCI met with the Chairman & CEO, Franco Valletta and the Business Development Director, Chris Grech, of Dhalia Real Estate Services, a leading Maltese real estate services company. The President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov and the President of National Real Estate Association and member of the Executive Council of BCCI Ivan Iskrov discussed with the guests the state of the real estate market in Europe. According to Mr. Valletta, the real estate market in Malta, like other European property markets, has also been adversely affected by the economic crisis with the mix of traditional foreign buyers shifting from primarily British to Scandinavian and South African nationalities. The Government of Malta recently launched The High Net Worth Individual Scheme aimed at attracting quality investors to Malta. The Maltese Islands remain a strong destination for the acquisition of holiday homes given their mild Mediterranean climate, excellent health service, educational system and quality lifestyle. The economic recession has slowed down the rate of property sales and potential buyers are taking longer to choose a property from an extensive supply. 

Mr. Iskrov presented Bulgarian real estate market and explained that the prices in Sofia remained stable in the last 9 months. In the following 18 months the level is expected to remain unchanged too.

After introducing the guests to the favourable business conditions in our country and the services provided by BCCI in assistance to businesses, the President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov discussed the objective of their visit. Dhalia’s collaborators in London are currently assisting an institutional investor with sourcing investment opportunities in Bulgaria primarily in two sectors in our country: (a) shopping centres - modern schemes, in the main cities where there are ongoing asset management opportunities but are generally one of the best schemes in the city; (b) logistics parks – modern, high quality, multi-let schemes with excellent transport links close to the main cities.

BCCI undertook to provide assistance in finding the appropriate sites for investments.