lt;P gt;The largest British clothing retailer Marks amp;amp;Spencer Group Plc set up a joint venture with the Greek Marinopoulos Group to expand its business in Eastern Europe, Bloomberg reported on February 29. lt;P gt; lt;P gt;The British company acquired 50 per cent of Marks amp;amp;Spencer Marinopoulos BV, which manages 38 outlets under franchise in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Switzerland, for amp;nbsp; 50 million euro. Marks amp;amp;Spencer plans to open 50 new outlets on the Balkans in the coming years, Bloomberg said. lt;P gt; lt;P gt;The acquisition is a part of Marks amp;amp;Spencers expansion and investment strategy, which includes boosting the share of international revenues to between 15 and 20 per cent over the next five years. lt;P gt;
Archive for February, 2008
Marks amp;Spencer to invest 50M euro in expansion on the Balkans
Thursday, February 28th, 2008Polish mall investor will pour 1.5 billion euro in Central and Eastern Europe by 2009
Thursday, February 28th, 2008Polands real estate developer Globe Trade Center GTC, which has mall projects in the Bulgarian cities of Stara Zagora, Varna and Bourgas, as well as several plots in Sofia, has announced plans to invest about 1.5 billion euro in new projects across CEE Central and East Europe during 2008 and 2009, investor.bg reported. The companys activity will be directed primarily towards acquiring land and developing new
Turkish Dedeman hotel chain enters Bulgaria
Thursday, February 28th, 2008lt;P gt;Turkish hotel chain Dedeman Hotels amp;amp;Resorts International will take over the management of two Bulgarian hotels, owned by Turkish businessman Sudi Ozkan, Dnevnik daily reported on February 29. The hotel operator has already placed job ads to fill available vacancies in Bulgarian papers. lt;P gt; lt;P gt;Dedeman will take over the Ozkan hotels the 200room Trimontsium Princess in Plovdiv and the 600room Sofia Princess in the Bulgarian capital, in early March. The Turkish operator intends to invest in upgrading the two hotels which are currently rated at four stars. lt;P gt;
Prosecutors probe Russian investments in Pamporovo
Thursday, February 28th, 2008lt;P gt;The Prosecutors Office in the town of Smolyan have launched an investigation into Russian investors pouring money in construction of hotels in Pamporovo, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on February 29. lt;P gt; lt;P gt;The prosecutors seek to make sure that no illegal money was used for the construction of hotels in Pamporovo mountain resort. Similar inquests have been carried out since 2006. lt;P gt; lt;P gt;Special teams are tracing out how deals for land were signed, contractual clauses and taxes paid. The magistrates did not specify the number of projects in Pamporovo and Smolyan region that were funded with Russian capital, BTA reported. lt;P gt;
No infringements in National Road Infrastructure Fund auditors
Thursday, February 28th, 2008lt;P gt;The two reports by the Finance Ministrys inspectorate on possible misuse of funds at the National Road Infrastructure Fund NRIF, as well as the final report of the European Union Funds Audit Directorate, showed there were no infringements in the funds operations, the Finance Ministry said on February 29. lt;P gt; lt;P gt;There were no unexplained expenses concerning the projects financed under EUs preaccession infrastructure aid programme ISPA or using cohesion funds, according to the reports. At the same time, there were also no serious violations in the functioning of the funds management and control systems. lt;P gt;
Lawmakers pass amendments to Public Property Act
Thursday, February 28th, 2008Bulgarias Parliament approved on February 29 at the first reading the three bills of amendment to the Public Property Act, put forth by Eleonora Nikolova from opposition Union of Democratic Forces, independent member of Parliament MP Maria Kapon and Remzi Osman from the coruling Movement for Right and Freedoms MRF.
British entrepreneur mulls construction of eight malls in Bulgaria
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008John Cutts, the founder and chief executive of commercial property developer Parkridge, is continuing his expansion into East Europe, the Financial Times reports.Although the entrepreneurs initial plans envisaged expansion to Poland, due to its key location, he also saw good opportunities for investment in retail compounds in Bulgaria and Ukraine. Seven retail centres have been erected in Warsaw since Parkridges accession to the Polish market, which means that it might be oversupplied soon, the developer said. He added that the Czech Republic used to offer good potential, but it faced a similar problem of reaching its capacity for absorbing commercial establishments.
Greek company buys a 12 million euro plot in Sofia for the first IKEA unit in Bulgaria
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008The Greek group Fourlis has signed a 12.081 million euro preliminary contract for the purchase of a plot in Sofia where it plans to develop the first IKEA hypermarket in the country, investor.bg reported. Negotiations for the land started in November last year, Fourlis officials said, but they refused to give details about its size and location.
Dubai sets foot in Bulgaria
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008Investment Corporation of Dubai offered 3 billion euro for Inmobiliaria Colonial, the Spanish developer that owns of Riofisa, which is developing two projects in Bulgaria worth more than 450 million euro, Bloomberg reported on February 28.
GE Real Estate invests 6.5 billion euro in real estate across Europe during 2007
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008GE Real Estate investment company, one of the owners of Mall Sofia, invested 6.5 billion euro in the European property market during 2007, including 2.6 billion euro in land portfolios and 3.9 billion euro in equity investments, PropertyEU reports.The total value of GE Real Estates assets in Europe reached 14.8 billion euro.Among the companys most significant real estate transactions during the second half of 2007 were