A lot was done for the development of the capital market in Bulgaria during the past years, Dimitar Ivanovski, Deputy Finance Minister told Profit.bg today.

„The tax on dividends was reduced and the profit from the transactions is not taxable. As you know, the Xetra trading platform will be introduced in a week and seven stock exchanges are interested in acquiring the government's stake in BSE,“ Ivanovski told us.

The chairman of the Financial Supervision Commission Apostol Apostolov said that amendments in the law on real estate investment trusts (REIT funds) are being prepared. Mr. Apostolov spoke during the round table “The EU membership and its impact on the development of capital markets in SEE” held in Sofia.

„Those amendments will, of course, be discussed with the companies. REIT funds all over the world can buy and rent out properties, but cannot build, while they do in Bulgaria.” If a company wishes to do construction activity and to be listed on the stock exchange, it ought to be listed as a public joint stock company and not a REIT, he explained.

Answering our question as to how can low liquid companies be delisted, Mr. Apostolov said, this could be done via tender offers. Or we can transfer all these companies to a separate segment, which would not be recommended to foreign investors, he added.

We remind that Kamen Kolchev, chairman of Elana Holding, said yesterday that some 200-250 public companies need to be delisted.

Mr. Apostolov mentioned several REIT funds with less than 10 shareholders and others, whose shares have been traded less than 10 times in 2007. „BSE should reconsider its listing criteria,“ he said in conclusion.