November 2 (SeeNews) - Following are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Monday morning. SeeNews has not verified these reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
PARI
- Bondholders of insolvent steel mill Kremikovtzi have rejected the recovery plan proposed by the plant’s receiver calling for a debt-for-equity swap, the newspaper reported. The holders of 325 million euro worth of bonds are the biggest creditors of the steel mill and their withdrawal could lead the plant to liquidation. The Bulgarian state and the rest of the creditors still can save the mill, if they endorse the plan by November 9th but this is highly unlikely, the newspaper quoted unnamed experts as saying. The plan calls for the conversion of 944 million levs worth of debt into Kremikovtzi shares.
- The Bulgarian government has no plan to sell the Sofia heating utility company at least until 2013, the daily reported.
- The Bulgarian cabinet plans to double the share of electricity traded on the free market to 30% by 2013. Currently, 85% of the Bulgarian electricity market is regulated by the state.
DNEVNIK
- Former finance minister Plamen Oresharski and central bank governor Ivan Iskrov had struck a secret agreement, under which one billion levs from the country's fiscal reserve can be deposited with commercial banks as a bail-out measure, current finance minister Simeon Dyankov told parliament.
- The stock exchange in Sofia may cancel its decision to delist nearly 200 illiquid public companies that have over 800,000, the newspaper reported. Bulgaria's financial regulator and some investment intermediaries have proposed that only companies in liquidation, or about 10% of those 200 firms, should be de-listed.
MONITOR
- Deputy finance minister Vladislav Goranov believes that bank lending rates in Bulgaria will decrease by between one and two percentage points next year, the newspaper reported.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)