Bottling company Devin (

) plans to invest some 15 mln leva (7.670 mln euros) in modernization of facilities and machine park, CEO Tsvetan Lajanski said at the company's presentation on Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The return on the investment is expected within 5 years.

The company intends to spend 13 mln leva (6.646 mln euros) on new machines, and to use the remaining 2 mln on improvement of its buildings. 80% of the funds will be provided through bank loans and leasing contracts.

Devin has already signed a contract for the delivery of new Krones machines. The modernization of equipment will boost production capacity to 42 bottles per hour, Lajanski also said.

Devin is currently in the process of negotiating that would help the company's expansion on the market of soft drinks in Bulgaria's neighboring countries. The company recently raised some 18.3 mln leva (9.356 mln euros) in an IPO, of which 6 mln leva will be invested in acquisitions, 10 mln leva (5.112 mln euros) were used to service bank loans, and the rest will be used to pay the first installment on the new machines.

Devin also intends to enter the markets of Romania and Greece and is currently negotiating with local distributors. In Bulgaria the company holds 31% of the market, Mr. Lajanski pointed out.

The company's EBIDTA stands at 7.5 mln leva (3.834 mln euros) according to latest data, this is 600-700,000 more than what we projected, Lajenski also said. Non-consolidated sales for the period January-August stand at 37.638 mln leva (19.244 mln euros).

Devin completed an IPO in July. The company issued 3 mln new shares, which were all placed together with 225,000 already existing shares offered by major shareholder. The price was 6.10 leva/share.

The stock rocketed 21.97% to an average of 7.44 leva in early trade today. 391,925 shares have changed hands in 473 transactions so far today.

“I hope that Devin will find its place on the official market of equities and within the bourse indices,” Lajanski laso said.

29 new public companies have been listed this year. 6 of them filed IPOs. The number of new real estate investment trusts (REITs) is 15. BSE's market capitalization currently stands at 27.052 bln leva (13.831 mln euros), which is more than 50% of the nation's GDP.