August 11, 2006

The BGN 45 million IPO prospectus of Chimimport AD, advised by DT&T, has been approved by the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission.

One of the biggest Bulgarian holding companies Chimimport shall increase its capital from BGN 118.9 to 130 million offering the new shares to the public (BGN 4 subscription price vs. BGN 1 nominal value of a share). The 98% major shareholder Chimimport Invest shall not subscribe new shares and thus the expectations are after the IPO the free float of Chimimport AD to reach 8-9%. According to Mr. A. Kerezov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of the company, the intention of the major shareholder is in the coming months to sell more shares at the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, so the free float to increase up to 25%.

Chimimport owns more than 90% in Central Cooperative Bank, Armeets Insurance Company, Hemus Air Company, in a pension company, an oil production company, a shipping company and in a number of other attractive companies. Therefore, not surprisingly Chimimport financial results are pretty impressive. Compared to 2003 Chimimport’s revenues tripled in 2005 thus reaching BGN 355 million. In the last 3 years Chimimport’s net assets and net profit have increased more than 4 times up to BGN 236 million, respectively BGN 30 million.

People from the investment industry qualify Chimimport’s IPO as an 2006 event No. 1 for the Bulgarian capital market. The expectations are that the shares publicly offered will be over-subscribed. It is quite likely Chimimport to rank 2nd among the Bulgarian listed companies regarding market capitalization, just after the Bulgarian telecommunication Company.