It became clear this week that the negotiations on the sale of EIBank have entered an advanced stage. The identity of the future shareholders was also disclosed by the media – these are the Belgium financial group KBC and the biggest non-public bank in Spain La Caixa.

If the sale is finalized, the number of banks with predominantly Bulgarian capital will fall to eight. These are First Investment Bank, Central Cooperative Bank, Corporate Commercial Bank, CB Investbank, International Asset Bank, Municipal Bank, Texim bank, and state-owned Encouragement Bank.

Four of these banks have listed their stock on the BSE, and CB Investbank will soon do this as well. The total market capitalization of these banks stood at nearly 3.718 bln leva (1.900 mln euros), or more than 14% of the total BSE capitalization (26.760 bln leva/13.682 bln euros). The market value of EIBank alone amounts to nearly 1.063 bln leva (543.503 euros).

It is expected that the bank's share will continue to grow, especially after Central Cooperative Bank announced plans for another capital increase, from the current 72.76 mln leva (37.201 mln euros) to 83.155 mln leva (42.516 mln euros). The bank will issue new shares for the purpose.

The assets attracted by Bulgarian banks stood at 42.579 bln leva (21.770 bln euros) at the end of June.


Total Assets (Thousand BGN)Financial Result (thousand BGN)Difference in Financial Result30 June 200630 june 200730 June 200630 June 2007CB Investbank32678488458842948821038,00%Municipal Bank5682758471211007186084,71%First Investment Bank26171373468916119141936262,51%Corporate Commercial Bank7289581179425174811141537,36%International Asset Bank3158604419292928575696,58%Texim Bank4342950161-284856N/AEncouragement Bank966031348421796214219,27%Central Coopertive Bank928046121823725079418275,67%EIBank121512414609942127316895-20,58%