In Brief
OTE owns 98.6 percent of Cosmote after public offer OTE telecom, Greece’s biggest phone company, holds 98.6 percent of Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications at the end of the public offer to buy the shares it didn’t already own. OTE owned 331.2 million Cosmote shares, acquired through market purchases and via the public offer, according to a statement to the Athens Exchange yesterday. OTE in November offered 2.8 billion euros ($4.1 billion) in cash, or 26.25 euros apiece, to acquire the 32 percent stake in Cosmote it didn’t already own. (Bloomberg) Eurobank Properties shares rise on earnings increase Eurobank Properties Real Estate Investment Company, the property investment arm of Greece’s second-biggest bank, rose the most in two weeks in Athens after reporting higher profits for last year. Net income climbed 19 percent last year to 37.3 million euros ($55 million), the Athens-based company said today. Eurobank Properties attributed the profit increase to higher rental income and financial gains. Eurobank Properties shares gained 36 cents, or 4.5 percent, to 8.40 euros, giving the company a market value of 508 million euros. The stock has dropped 40 percent in the past six months. EFG Eurobank Ergasias, Greece’s second-biggest bank, owns 55 percent of Eurobank Properties. (Bloomberg) Albania power deal A tender won by Austrian utility EVN to build three hydroelectric power stations in Albania will require an investment of some 900 million euros ($1.3 billion), the country’s Energy Ministry said. «The commission declared the Austrian company EVN the winner of the tender to award a build-operate-transfer concession to exploit the whole potential of the Devoll River valley,» a statement said. EVN announced the deal last week without mentioning the price. It said the power stations on the Devoll would have a capacity of 400 megawatts and generate around 1,000 gigawatt-hours annually. (Reuters) Coke Icecek Coca-Cola Icecek, the Turkish bottler of Coca-Cola Co, said yesterday it had started talks with the US company with a view to buying a 50 percent stake in tea firm Dogadan. An affiliate of Coca-Cola had bought Dogadan, the Turkish market leader in herbal and fruit teas, in 2007. In a statement to the stock market, Coca-Cola Icecek gave no financial details. Tea-producer Turkey has the highest per capita tea consumption rates in the world, and is the second-largest black tea market after India, the firm said. (Reuters) Bulgaria budget surplus Bulgaria ended 2007 with a budget surplus of 2.11 billion levs ($1.61 billion), or 3.8 percent of expected gross domestic product, due to higher-than-planned tax revenues, Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski said yesterday. «The surplus of 3.8 percent of GDP is mainly due to better revenues. They are 20 percent higher than in 2006, and 9.5 percent more than initially planned,» Oresharski told reporters. (Reuters)
