Elana Plans Ipo

Elana Financial Holding will be floating its shares in an initial public offer (IPO) in the second half of this year, Kamen Kolchev, chair of Elana Holding AD board of directors and chief executive director, said on March 19. The holding plans to offer between 15 and 25 per cent of its shares.

Elana Financial Holding comprises the companies Elana Trading, Elana Fund Management, Elana Property Management and Elana Investment. The company is in charge of Elana's financial operations.

Elana Holding reported consolidated net profit of 7.5 million leva in 2007 in what is a 180 per cent year-on-year increase. Revenues grew by 50 per cent on the year to 50 million leva.

In addition, Elana plans to establish two real estate investment trusts (REITs) before the year expires, Kolchev said.

By 2010, Elana Agricultural Land REIT plans to boost its portfolio to 45 000 hectares. According to Kolchev, the value of land of poor quality or poorly managed will remain unchanged this year, whereas the price of land bringing substantial revenues will be on the rise.

In regard to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), Elana predicts that the economy would continue to grow at a solid pace. So will Bulgaria's blue-chip shares, by 20 per cent in 2008.

According to Kolchev, the downward adjustment at the BSE was a natural development in view of the ongoing crisis on the international financial markets. He also forecast fewer, but more attractive IPOs this year. The mutual funds market will also see consolidation, since the potential for development of the mutual funds was high.propertywisebulgaria.com