December 23 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian Stock Exchange blue-chip SOFIX index recorded a hefty rise of 2.68% before closing for the holidays, backed by a massive increase in the share price of lender First Investment Bank (Fibank) [BUL:5F4].
The SOFIX closed at 562.96 points on Monday, supported by an 18.37% jump in Fibank shares, which was prompted by several announcements made by the lender after bourse closing hours on Friday.
You can download the 2023 Automotive industry in Southeast Europe report here
On Friday, Fibank announced that it has placed an 8% non-convertible 30 million euro perpetual bond issue and intends to seek to raise further funds through a capital increase. Fibank is planning to offer 40 million shares for subscription at a price of 5 levs apiece. However, the price of the shares could be revised by the time the company completes its prospectus, Fibank noted. The minimum success threshold is set at 10% of the offered number of shares.
In addition, Fibank announced that it has signed deals to sell non-performing loan (NPL) portfolios with a total face value of some 538 million levs.
Earlier this year, the European Central Bank (ECB) said it has found a capital shortfall of 262.9 million euro at Fibank.
The second biggest gainer among blue-chips on Monday was the other bank in the SOFIX pool - Central Cooperative Bank (CCB) [BUL:4CF]. CCB shares ended the trading session 5% higher at 1.575 levs.
Other notable gainers were car battery maker Mondat [BUL:5MB] and diversified group Chimimport [BUL:6C4], which added 4.10% and 3.58%, respectively.
The wider BGBX40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the Sofia bourse, increased 1.48% to 110.79 points, while the BGTR30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, gained 1.34% to 508.70 points.
The BGREIT index, which tracks real estate investment trusts, edged up 0.05% to 130.51 points on Monday.
Total daily regulated market turnover fell to some 977,000 levs on Monday from 2.05 million levs in the preceding trading session.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
First Investment Bank AD is among the biggest banks in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here