Bulgaria's Fibank shares close almost 20% higher on capital plan (updated)

First Investment Bank AD

23/12/2019 16:35

(Updates with closing price)
    SOFIA, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Shares in Bulgaria's First
Investment Bank (Fibank)  5F4.BB  rose by almost a fifth on
Monday after it announced it would raise 200 million levs
($113.39 million) to help cover a capital shortfall found by the
European Central Bank.
    The stock closed at 3.48 levs, up 18.4% from an opening
level of 2.94 levs.
    Bulgaria, a member of the European Union, hopes to adopt the
euro on Jan. 1, 2023.
    Ahead of that, an ECB assessment of six of the country's
banks found a capital shortfall at Fibank, Bulgaria's
fourth-largest bank, of 262.9 million euros ($291.37
million). urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N24R5MC
    The ECB also found a capital shortfall of 51.8 million euros
at a smaller bank, Investbank.
    Fibank said on Sunday it planned to offer 40 million new
shares at 5 levs per share, adding it would consider the issue a
success if as few as 4 million shares were sold at the offer
price.      
    Fibank, which has already secured 130 million euros in
additional capital, said it had also privately placed a 30
million-euro bond and offloaded bad loans with a nominal value
of about 538 million levs.
    It said its overall capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.65%
at the end of September. Its CET1 capital ratio was 14.79%,
above regulatory requirements.
    Bulgarian businessmen Tseko Minev and Ivaylo Mutafchiev each
own 42.5% of the lender, which had total assets of 9.6 billion
levs at the end of September. The remaining 15% has been floated
on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

($1 = 1.7639 leva)

($1 = 0.9023 euros)

 (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((angel.krasimirov@thomsonreuters.com; +359 888 695 510;))