Bulgartransgaz Gets $615mn in Loan Offers

Bulgaria's state gas grid operator Bulgartransgaz has secured 10 offers by banks for €542mn ($615mn) in six-year loans, it said on July 9, helping to finance construction of the Balkan Stream. 

The operator needs to make advance payments to Saudi group Arkad, which it hired last year to build the 474-km Bulgarian section of Balkan Stream, the European extension of Russia's TurkStream pipeline. It also has to pay local group DZZD Ferrostaal Balkangaz to build the pipeline's compressor stations.

The banks making offers were ING Bank, Citibank Europe, International Bank for Economic Co-operation, Russia's VTB Bank Europe as well as the Bulgarian arms of Raiffeisen, Unicredit, KBC Group, Eurobank and OTP Bank. It also received a bid from a partnership between state-run Bulgarian Development Bank, Municipality Bank and Budapest-based International Investment Bank. The interest rates on the loans vary between 1.35 and 3.5%.