Page 9 - bne_newspaper_February_22_2019

The Regions This Week
February 22, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Southeast Europe
Retailer Mercator sold ten shopping centres in Slovenia to Austria’s Supernova for €116.6mn. The deal is aimed at reducing the company’s debt and ensuring pre-conditions for a new investment cycle, which is of critical importance for Merca- tor's further development.
Debt-pressured Turkish conglomerates Yildiz and Dogus are seeking more asset sales. Yildiz Holding plans to complete the sale of Godiva Chocolate’s Japanese business at the end of Feb- ruary, an executive told Bloomberg, while Dogus Holding is in talks with TUI to sell its D-Resort Grand Azur Otel in Marmaris town located in Aegean coast of Turkey.
Moldova plans to sell 51% of telecoms incum- bent Moldtelecom, according to the amended privatisation schedule. The value of Moldtelecom is estimated by Mold Street at €100mn, one-fifth of its value ten years ago.
Romania’s government adopted two new emer- gency decrees that amend the justice laws. President Klaus Iohannis claimed that the senior ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) wants to create "a special status for those who have legal problems”.
Shell is transferring 20% of its offshore block exploration rights in Bulgaria to Repsol after getting the go ahead from the government in Sofia. Shell got a deep-water exploratory drilling permit for the offshore Block 1-14 Khan Kubrat in 2016.
Japanese carmaker Honda will cease production of Civic sedans at its Turkey plant in 2021. Honda said it will restructure its global manufacturing network as accelerates its commitment to elec- trified cars, in response to the “unprecedented changes in the global automotive industry.”
An opposition protest turned violent in Albania, when supporters of the Democratic Party tried to break into the government building. The party has since announced its MPs will quit the parliament.
The EBRD will lend Bosnia €201mn for the con- struction of 14 km of the pan-European Corridor Vc motorway. Corridor Vc runs from the Hungar- ian capital Budapest through Croatia and Bosnia and ends again in Croatia, at the Adriatic town and major seaport of Ploce.
Ikea's first store in Slovenia is expected to open in 2020. Ikea Group has been researching the possibil- ity of opening a shop in Slovenia since 2006, when the company began expanding to Southeast Europe.
Romania’s Transgaz started work on the second phase of the Iasi-Ungheni interconnection pro- ject that is of national interest in Moldova, as it will help the country increase energy security and to integrate in the EU energy market.
Kosovo will cut the number of cabinet ministers
under a new law on government that will define the responsibilities of each ministry and its offi- cials. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said the law is “extremely important” for the country.
Ex-PM Nikola Gruevski and four other former officials from North Macedonia’s opposition VMRO-DPMNE party are being probed for organising the invasion of the Macedonian parliament in April 2017. Over 100 people including the country’s current Prime Minister Zoran Zaev were injured in the violence.
The EBRD it is investing RSD542mn (€4.6mn) in a two-year RSD3.87bn local currency bond issue placed by Serbia's Erste Bank Novi Sad. This is the EBRD’s first investment in a local currency bond in Serbia.