Bulgaria's Fibank Leases Part of Steel Mill Kremikovtsi's Site to Austrian Investor
Bulgaria’s First Investment Bank said on Wednesday that it has leased a "significant part" of the site of bankrupt steel mill Kremikovtsi to a unit of Austria's Soravia Group. The financial lease deal is part of Fibank's long-term strategy for reducing assets which do not contribute to the lender's interest income, the bank said in a filing to the stock exchange in Sofia. No further details were disclosed. Fibank acquired Kremikovtsi's assets in January 2016 from local companies Eltrade Company and Ferosplaven Zavod. In April 2011, Eltrade Company purchased the steel mill's assets for 316 million levs ($184.5 million/161.6 million euro). Fibank said at the time it lent Eltrade Company 59 million euro to finance the deal. Kremikovtzi, once Bulgaria's largest steel mill located in the outskirts of Sofia, went bankrupt in August 2008.