Bulgaria's Bianor raises 10.2 mln euro in capital hike

A total of 199 investors, including 178 individuals, subscribed for some 5.41 million company shares, with BlackPeak Capital contributing 13.3 million levs, Bianor Holding said in a press release.

This investment aims to fuel Bianor's organic growth and accelerate its development through regional mergers and acquisitions. It will enhance Bianor's service portfolio and expand its presence, targeting customers in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.

"Bianor is a company with a proven track record of growth through acquisitions, and we believe that recent trends in the IT industry will give advantages to larger companies that have the resources to compete on a global level based on higher added value. This is the first time we are investing in a listed company, and we hope that our investment will contribute not only to the development of the business but also to the Bulgarian capital market as a whole," BlackPeak Capital managing partner Rossen Ivanov said.

Bianor offered for subscription 5.48 million new voting shares with a par value each at an issue price of 3.70 levs, seeking to increase its capital from 6.88 million levs to 12.36 million levs. Following the capital hike, Bianor's market capitalisation will reach over 50 million levs at the current share price, the company said.

BlackPeak Capital, founded in 2014, has total assets under management of 160 million euro ($170.4 million). Bianor is the fifth portfolio company in the firm’s second fund, BlackPeak Southeast Europe Growth Equity Fund, which is investing growth equity tickets of 5 to 15 million euro in dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia.

As of 1417 CET on Monday, shares in Bianor traded 4.44% higher at 4.70 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)