Modern Times Group (MTG), a leading international entertainment broadcasting group, on Thursday said it has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Nova Televisia Bulgaria for 620 mln euro in cash from Antenna Bulgaria, a member of the Kyriakou-owned Antenna Group.

Nova Televisia Bulgaria was established in 1994 and owns 100% of Nova, the second most watched TV channel in Bulgaria, as well as 80% of one of Bulgaria's leading women's magazines Eva.

According to the press release on the MTG website, the Nova commercial TV channel had an 18.2% share of viewing amongst the target audience group of 18-49 year olds in the first half of 2008, and an approximately 32.4% share of the 125 mln euro Bulgarian net TV advertising market in 2007.

Nova is broadcast under a national terrestrial free-TV license, as well as on cable and satellite networks, and is available to 99% of people meter panel households in Bulgaria.

MTG already operates the family of Diema channels in Bulgaria through its 50% controlling interest in Balkan Media Group Limited.

The Diema channels had a 10.0% combined share of viewing (18-49) in the first half of 2008.

The transaction is expected to yield significant synergies for MTG´s Bulgarian TV operations going forward, and to facilitate the further development of MTG's media house approach in the Bulgarian TV market.

The Bulgarian TV advertising market grew by 30% in 2007 and is expected to continue to demonstrate high levels of growth in the coming years, said MTG.

Nova Televisia Bulgaria generated a 54% year on year increase in net sales to 42.0 mln euro in 2007, and a more than doubling of EBIT to 19.1 mln euro with an increased operating margin of 45.5%.

The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities and is expected to be completed within approximately three months.

The Nova deal is announced just days after Bermuda-based Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) entered into agreements to acquire Bulgaria's TV2 channel, a national terrestrial network launched in November 2007, and Ring TV, a sports cable channel.(Dnevnik)

Italian technology and infrastructure supplier CO-VER Industrial will build a business center at the airport of Sofia, Bulgaria, news agency Ansa reported on Thursday.

The business park will be entirely built by the civil works division of CO-VER Industrial.

The company won the tender launched by real estate companies Tishman International Companies and Ge Real Estate for the construction by 2013 of the business park, which will be located near Sofia international airport and will cover an area of 180,000 sq m.

The center will include seven buildings and will also host a luxury 250-room hotel.

The park's first completed building was Marketing Suite which opened in March this year.

News agency SeeNews reported that the first phase of the project will be completed by the end of 2009. Full delivery is seen by 2013.(Dnevnik)

No multinationl will be lining up to take tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac off the hands of the Bulgarian government given the current excise policy which encourages the production of cheap cigarettes, Peter Imre, head of corporate affairs at tobacco heavyweight Philip Morris, said on Thursday.

The company executive declined to say if Philip Morris had any concrete plans regarding the Bulgartabac sell-off. He said he had not seen a ready strategy for the privatisation of the company.

Imre confirmed that he had met with officials at the Bulgarian finance ministry but did not say what the meetings were about.

In 2008, Bulgaria levies an indirect tax of 37 levs per 1,000 cigarette pieces plus 35% of the retail price.

Local weekly newspaper Capital has reported that executives from Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco met earlier this month with Bulgarian economy minister Petar Dimitrov to express their interest in the Sofia and Blagoevgrad cigarette factories.(Dnevnik)

Rising interest rates helped the profit of the Bulgarian banking system increase 48.6% year-on-year to 728.6 mln levs in the first half of 2008, shows data of the central bank released on Thursday.

The main local fallout from the global credit crunch was the increased cost of external lending resource.

Interest income is up 47.4%, said the central bank.

The domestic banking assets rose 11% over March to 65.7 bln levs.

The central bank reported a 12% quarter-on-quarter increase to 52.5 bln levs in credits and advances and an 11% increase in deposits.

In Q2, the local banks lent 5.7 bln levs and added 5.9 bln levs to their deposit base. Deposits are almost equally split between the retail and corporate sector with roughly 20 bln levs each.

The nation's five largest banks accounted for 62% of the credit volume increase in Q2.

Loans were reported at 78.3% of the banks' balance sheet assets by the end of June, marginally higher than 76.96% in March this year.(Dnevnik)

Bulgaria's Central Depository on Thursday suspended for three days trading with the share of local cosmetics maker Aroma in compliance with a court injunction.

All transactions that were in progress at the time the injunction notice was received by the Central Depository will not be settled before trading resumes, said Lyubomir Hristov, executive director of the depository.

The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC), the Bulgarian Stock and Exchange (BSE) and the Central Depository said the injunction move harms the interests of the minority shareholders as they have no stake in the stand-off between the parties to the dispute.

The FSC and the BSE said the injunction decision was taken without prior consideration for all relevant legislation.

The injunction order was issued at the request of Krasimir Mitev, a former business associate of Aroma supervisory board chairman Lukan Lukanov.

Mitev owns local cosmetics company Rubella.(Dnevnik)

Canada's Dundee Precious Metals said on Thursday it will have to obtain two more permits from the Bulgarian environment ministry before kicking off the construction of a new metals processing facility at its local gold project in Chelopech.

Dundee's local subsidiary, Chelopech Mining, will apply before the eco ministry for an integrated pollution prevention and control permit and a permit to handle hazardous chemicals, said Irena Stambolieva, en environmental expert at the company.

The procedure for the issue of the permits is expected to take about a year.

Dundee applied for the new permits after eco minister Cevdet Chakarov Wednesday approved the expansion of the Chelopech project.

The Canadian company previously did not need an integrated permit as it was not involved in any metallurgical production.

Dundee will invest $155 mln in the project for a new factory for the processing of gold and copper ores in Chelopech.

Chakarov approved the expansion of the Chelopech project almost 2.5 years after the relevant deadline.

The environmental impact assessment of the project has not been updated while it was waiting Chakarov's response.

The delay in the issue of the permit was not due to any environmental issues but rather to the additional talks between Dundee and the Bulgarian government, said Stambolieva.

(Dnevnik)

Construction on the territory of the Strandzha nature reserve will not be disrupted after a panel of experts from the eco ministry Thursday approved the masterplan of the Tsarevo municipality where the wilderness tract is located.

The plan imposes only minor restrictions on the height and density of construction in the park.

Planning approval was also granted to a golf resort near Varvara on the condition that it would result in the destruction of natural vegetation and the use of strong pesticides.

The only member of the panel that voted against the masterplan said it will reduce the territory of the park by 900 ha.

Under the masterplan, the bed capacity in the area will reach 59,000.(Dnevnik)