Mega telecom deal
Bulgarian telecom Vivacom's owner United Group has sold its telecommunications towers in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia to Saudi company TAWAL, the telecommunications operator and subsidiary of Saudi Telecom Company (STC).
The €1.22 billion deal, one of the biggest of its kind, includes 4,800 towers in the three countries and is the first for the Arab group in Europe.
United Group has sought investors since last year to receive liquidity for financing its debt. The deal means 2000 more stations could get built in the network by the Saudis.
Dubious voting concentrated in DPS strongholds
Targovishte, Blagoevgrad, Pleven, Montana and Varna are among the regions with dubious voting practices in the recent elections, according to a new report by the Anticorruption fund. Voting in these areas tends to be too concentrated for a certain political party.
In these areas where such a concentration of mass voting exists it would seem that DPS - a party with a support base among ethnic minorities - wins the most votes, while GERB increases its share and usually wins second place.
Unicredit wins top spot among Bulgarian banks
Kapital Weekly's annual special report ranking the top 10 best banks in Bulgaria has awarded first place to Unicredit Bulbank, according to an annual methodology based on risk, profitability, sustainability, fluidity and flexibility.
Bulgaria's banking system realized a 47% increase in profit overall, which for the first time in nominal value exceeded BGN 2 billion. Assets increased by BGN 20 billion, or almost 15%, to BGN 155.4 billion.
The rapid increase in lending that began after the pandemic shows no sign of abating, particularly in mortgage and consumer loans to households.
