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Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-08-08
CONTENTS
[01] Greece second top overall investor in Bulgaria
[01] Greece second top overall investor in Bulgaria
Greece ranked the second top foreign investor in Bulgaria for the
overall period of January 1992 to March 2005, with investments by Greek
companies reaching 20.1 million in the first quarter of 2005, bringing
the overall figure to 1.054 billion dollars, according to figures
released by the Bulgarian Foreign Investment Agency (BFIA).
The total of directly invested Greek capital in Bulgaria over the
period January 1992 to March 2005 reached 1.054 billion dollars,
ranking Greece in second place among the top foreign investors in the
neighbouring Balkan country, following Austria.
According to BFIA figures citing the National Bank of Bulgaria as the
source, Austria topped the list of foreign investors in Bulgaria with
total direct investments of 1.829 billion dollars over the period
January 1992 to march 2005. Austria toppled Greece from first place in
the past few years due to exceptionally high investments made -- 163.2
million dollars in the first quarter of 2005 and 923.7 million dollars
in 2004, against 20.1 million dollars in the first quarter of 2005 and
156.9 million dollars in 2004 by Greek interests. A key factor in the
jump in Austrian investsments was the acquisition of the Bulgarian
Telecommunications Company (BTC), the Bulgarian national telecoms
provider (in June 2004, after two years of political and legal
wrangling, the Austrian holding company Viva Ventures succeeded in a
730 million euros leveraged buyout of 65 percent of BTC, with the
obligation to invest up to 700 million euros in modernisation and
digitalisation, half of which was slated to be invested within five
years of the acquisition).
Third among top foreign investors in Bulgaria was The Netherlands, with
direct investments of 939.5 million euros in the January 1992-March
2005 period (11.8 million dollars in the first quarter of 2005),
followed by Germany in fourth place with 897.1 million dollars in the
overall period, Italy in 5th place with 738.1 million dollars in the
overall period, and Cyprus in sixth place with 516.4 million dollars in
the overall period, according to the BFIA figures.
A total of 379.7 million dollars in foreign investments was recorded in
Bulgaria in the first quarter of 2005 (January-March), bringing overall
foreign investments in that country to 10,524.9 million dollars for the
entire period from January 1992 to March 2005.
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