Géopolitiques de la Bulgarie

07 novembre 2007

Carrefour to enter Bulgaria

In a recent press interview, the president of Carrefour Marinopoulos, Jérome Loubère, has indicated that the retailer plans to invest at least EUR200 million (USD27.6 million) in opening 20 hypermarkets in Bulgaria in the next five to seven years, targeting a 20% market share. The company expects to open its first Bulgarian hypermarket in the Black Sea port city of Burgas at the end of next year.

According to Mr Loubère, the hypermarkets will open either in shopping malls or as standalone units. "We see today a lot of interest for malls in Bulgaria because of the retail organisation. Bulgaria today has a lot of small shops so there is a huge interest in malls," Loubère said, adding that at least half of the planned hypermarkets will be located in malls. The company plans to open shopping malls in the country's largest cities, including the capital Sofia, the cities of Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, Ruse and Stara Zagora, while in the smaller towns it will build separate hypermarkets.

The company expects to open its first Bulgarian hypermarket in the Black Sea port city of Burgas at the end of next year. Carrefour has also kicked off work on its first multi-purpose mall and office centre in Bulgaria which will be built in the outskirts of Sofia and will have a total built up area of over 240,000 square metres. The facility, named Carrefour Tsarigradsko Mall, will feature a three-level underground parking lot, 200 shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities. It is scheduled to become operational in the first half of 2009. Mr Loubère said that the group expects to generate between EUR20 million (USD27.7 million) to EUR50 million (USD69.4 million) in annual sales per store and added that total sales will depend on the number of stores opened in the next five to seven years. "If we have four-five stores opened it would be four-five times this number."

http://dah.kiev.ua/content/view/652/100/

24 octobre 2007

Hypermarket Chain Carrefour Enters Bulgaria's Grand Mall Varna

Carrefour, the biggest retail chain in Europe, officially signed a long-term lease contract with Grand Mall Varna in the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna, Orchid Developments Group announced Tuesday.

The Carrefour hypermarket will have a total area of 9,300 square meters, located underground which makes the company the biggest tenant in the mall. Carrefour will also turn into the largest hypermarket in Varna.

The contract with Carrefour is exceptional considering the size and the potential of the companies and shows the trust between them. The agreement was signed for a period of 30 years. The contract is expected to start immediately after completion of construction.

Last monsth Scottish property development holding Miller Group closed the acquisition of the Mall Varna complex for EUR 120 M in the biggest deal of its kind in Bulgaria.

Mall Varna, developed initially by local firm Interserviz Uzunovi following a EUR 30 M investment, is one of the six malls being built in the city.

Construction on it began a year ago and was scheduled to complete in November, but its grand opening has since been postponed for spring 2008.

Miller Group is active in construction, as well as house building and property development.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=86715

23 septembre 2007

France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife to visit Bulgaria October 4

21 September 2007 | 11:51 | FOCUS News Agency

Sofia. At the invitation of Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia Sarkozy will pay an official visit to Bulgaria on October 4th, the press center of the Bulgarian President’s Office announced. President Sarkozy is scheduled to confer with President Parvanov and Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, and deliver a lecture in Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. The Bulgarian Head of State will reward French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia Sarkozy with the highest state orders. A meeting with the Bulgarian medics who returned from Libya is also planned.

06 août 2007

BNP Paribas unit buys Bulgarian consumer lender JetFinance

BNP Paribas, through its Cetelem subsidiary, continental Europe's leading provider of consumer credit, has announced its takeover of the leader in the Bulgarian market, JetFinance International.

JetFinance International is a specialist in consumer credit with 800 employees, BNP Paribas said in a special press release. It operates in over 150 towns across Bulgaria, offering its products through close to 3,600 sales outlets and via its own branch network.

Its distribution model is therefore very similar to that developed by Cetelem in a number of countries throughout the world.

With a 500,000 strong client portfolio, JetFinance International saw its new business volume and outstanding loans grow by over 60% in 2006. Thanks to a quality management team and motivated staff, this trend continued throughout the first half of 2007.

BNP Paribas said the deal represents a strategically important investment, giving it access to a retail client base. Bulgaria, with forecast annual GDP growth of about 5% until 2009, enjoys one of the highest levels of growth potential in Central and Eastern Europe.

For Cetelem, this acquisition reinforces its regional coverage, confirming its capacity to offer its partners a truly pan-European service.

Central and Eastern Europe are already priority targets for Cetelem having already established roots in Hungary and the Czech Republic as long ago as 1996. Cetelem is also present in Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, the Ukraine and Russia.

Moreover, Cetelem ranks among the top 3 consumer credit operators in Bulgaria, thanks to this acquisition, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

According to the press release, JetFinance International was established in 2001 by two top executives, Elvin Guri and Ivan Hristanov, the company's current CEO and COO respectively. JetFinance International is a company owned mainly by AIG Investments through the AIG -New Europe Fund, a fund sponsored by AIG Capital Partners, Inc.(Dnevnik)

14 juillet 2007

Bulgarian Guards March on Champs Elysees

 

Bulgarian Minister of Defense Vesselin Bliznakov and head of the military staff of the Bulgarian Army general Zlatan Stoikov leave for Paris where they will participate in the celebrations on 14 July – France's National Day.

This year the celebrations are under the motto 'Europe”.

Thirty three Bulgarian guards will take part in the parade of the representative army units of the 27 EU member states for the anniversary of the French revolution.

6000 soldiers, from whom 800 from the European countries will march from the Arc de Triumph to Place de la Concorde.

The military parade will be led by a Portuguese officer, who will carry the flag of the European Union. He will be followed by the standard-bearers of the European countries, among whom the Bulgarian soldiers.

The Bulgarian soldiers from the National Guard will march on Champs Elysees with the military flag of the guard unit. This is the first time they will participate in a military parade outside Bulgaria.

On an initiative of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the ministers of defense and the heads of the military staffs of the EU member states are invited to participate in France's national anniversary.

Bulgarian guards to participate in parade in Paris

14 July 2007 | 08:17 | FOCUS News Agency

Paris. The Bulgarian Minister of Defense Veselin Bliznakov and the Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Army Gen. Zlatan Stoykov will take part in the official celebrations in Paris on the occasion of 14th of July – France’s national holiday, the Ministry of Defense announced. 32 Bulgarian guards will take part in the parade of military troops from 27 EU member states on the occasion of the anniversary of the French revolution. 6,000 troops, 800 of which representatives of EU states.

12 juillet 2007

Sarkozy's wife visits medics on death row in Libya

12 July 2007 | 19:20 | FOCUS News Agency

Tripoli. The wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday paid a visit to Bulgarian medics facing the death sentence in Libya after being convicted of infecting children with the AIDS virus, a Libyan official said, as cited by AFP. Cecilia Sarkozy also visited families of children infected by the virus in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi, about 1,000 kilometres (625 miles) east of Tripoli, spokesman for the families Idriss Lagha told AFP. The visits come a day after Libya's Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty against the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor who were convicted of infecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood at a hospital and sentenced to death in May 2004. Fifty-six of the children have since died. Foreign health experts have cited poor hygiene as the probable cause of the epidemic in Benghazi, Libya's second city. A reprieve may still be possible in the case that has dragged on for eight years. Libya's top legal body is due to meet next week to examine a compensation deal negotiated by the Kadhafi Foundation, a charitable body headed by the son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, that could see the death sentences commuted. The French embassy in Tripoli declined to comment on Cecilia Sarkozy's visit. French foreign ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani on Wednesday said France regretted the Supreme Court's judgement. She said France would await Monday's meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council and noted "with interest" the report of a deal.

04 juin 2007

Sarkozy: Talks on Bulgarian Nurses in Libya Make Headway

The recently elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced talks to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya are making headway.

"This is one of those issues that have more chances of making a progress the less the public talk about them. I had the opportunity to discuss the issue with Libyan leader Qaddafi. I will only say that talks are moving ahead," Sarkozy said, speaking at a joint press conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

A day earlier Tripoli officially confirmed that talks are underway in a bid to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV. In its statement Libya's Foreign Ministry however stressed that a settlement can be reached only after Libya's justice delivers its final verdict.

Last week relatives of the HIV- infected children in Libya claimed to have reached an agreement with Tony Blair that could lead to the quick resolution of the trial of the five Bulgarian nurses.

The medics are sentenced to death on bogus charges of deliberately infecting with HIV virus more than 400 Libyan children.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=81453

17 mai 2007

Catrine Suiar: Eight towns of Bulgaria collaborate with France

17 May 2007 | 16:12 | FOCUS News Agency

Svishtov. Eight towns of Bulgaria are co-operating with French towns, a culture attaché with French Embassy in Bulgaria said, as cited by Radio FOCUS –Veliko Tarnovo. “I will think over the possibility for the town of Svishtov to cooperate with a French town in the field of culture and education,” the diplomat commented in the town of Svishtov (North Bulgaria).

Forum discusses hospital restructuring and expense control

17 May 2007 | 07:13 | FOCUS News Agency

Sofia. A Bulgarian-French conference on hospital restructuring and expense control will be held on 17 and 18 May in Maxima hall at the University Hospital of St. Ekaterina in Sofia, the Health Ministry’s press office announced. The forum is organized by the Ministry of Health and the Federation of Private Non-Profit Hospitals (FEHAP), France. It will be opened Thursday at 9.00 am. Officials from the Health Ministry, the National Health Insurance Fund, the French Embassy and the Francophone Institute on Administration and Management as well as hospital directors will take part.