Past Events

RINFOR - Real Eastate & Investment Forum

8 - 11 November 2005, Sheraton Sofia, Bulgaria

Among the keynote speakers at the RINFOR were:

Ilaria Benucci – Director, Property and Tourism team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Jeff Kirby – Founding Director of European Future Group

Mr. Kirby is the founding director of European Future Group with operations in London, Prague, Bucharest and Jersey. In 1981 he started his studies in the Canadian Forces Fleet School, Royal Canadian Navy in the field of Marine Engineering, continuing with Real Property Law, Environmental Design Studies in the TUNS school of Architecture and Post Graduate Studies in the Berliner Hochschule der Kunst, Weissensee. 
Between 1987 and 1988 he worked for one of Canada’s largest commercial house-builders. Between 1984 and 1992 he worked in three property companies in Canada, starting in agency and working into development consulting. Between 1998 and 2003 he was the Founding Director of the ‘Urban Research Lab’ and from 2001-2003, the Founding Director of ‘noo-age developments ltd’.
Later Mr. Kirby led the re-branding and re-structuring of ‘noo-age developments ltd’ for its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. Currently European Future Group is investing aggressively in CEE.

Jean-Bernard Wurm - Managing Director LandAmerica (Europe)
Jean-Bernard Wurm has over 20 years of real estate finance and investment experience in the both the U.S. and European markets. In early 2004, he was hired as Managing Director of LandAmerica (Europe), Geneva, to launch their title insurance and due diligence services in Europe. Prior to joining LandAm, Mr. Wurm was Managing Director in Geneva of Jargonnant Partners, a Munich-based real estate opportunity fund, focusing on Western Europe. Mr. Wurm began his career with JP Morgan, Paris, was then transferred to Frankfurt and later to New York, subsequently joining Bankers Trust in NYC. He then became Managing Director of HVB Capital (HypoVereinsbank) in NYC, where he was instrumental in negotiating some of the largest acquisitions made by European institutions in the U.S.  During his tenure, Mr. Wurm started and managed a real estate portfolio that reached $1.4 billion by the end of 2000.
 LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. is a NY Stock Exchange-listed, Fortune 500 firm, with over USD 3 billion in total assets.

Dieter Semmelroth – Senior Manager Structured Finance, TUI AG

Mr. Semmelroth is a trained economist and sociologist who studied in Germany and Jamaica. In 1980 he started his career as an Associate Expert for the International Labour Organization. Later he worked for international consulting firms in South America, Africa and the Caribbean. In 1991 he joined Preussag AG as a specialist for Project Finance. After Preussag’s acquisition of TUI in 1997 Mr. Semmelroth was involved in project development, aircraft and hotel financing. More recently he has been instrumental in financing TUI’s hotel projects in South Eastern Europe. Currently he holds the position of Senior Manager Structured Finance at TUI AG.
TUI is among the European market leader in package tourism. In 2004 more than 13 million people travelled with TUI companies. The countries of the Balkans are becoming increasingly more important for TUI as destination markets. In 2004 more than 287,000 TUI guests selected Bulgaria, 166,000 Croatia and 13,600 Romania as holiday destinations. Smaller numbers visited Slovenia and Serbia - Montenegro. As the countries of the Balkans offer particular features, TUI expects also for the future a growing business in the region. The presentation at the conference will provide data on present and future tourism trends. 

Manuel Ferry Sanchez – President, Ferry Group
Manuel Ferry Sanchez is the president of Ferry Group and President of golf club El Plantio in Spain which includes some 40,000 members. Mr. Ferry Sanchez will present his global view on golf as a game, apart from an investment opportunity as well as his forecasts and recommendation for the development of the game in South East Europe.
For the past two years, his company, Ferry Group has been developing a project for the construction of a golf complex near Sofia, in the village of Katina. Built on the 160 ha of land, the complex will cost up to 100 mln. euro at an initial stage. Apart from the construction of golf course, the project envisages the development of hotels, vacation villas and other leisure facilities.
The interests of Ferry Group include tourism and SPA, vacation and residential properties development.

Alan D. Levy - Chairman of Tishman International Companies

Alan D. Levy joined the New York based NYSE Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc. in 1963 in his native St. Louis and shortly thereafter moved to New York to manage a portfolio of the firm's properties.  As a result of the Tishman privatization in 1977, Levy, with other Tishman senior executives, purchased the leasing and management divisions of Tishman Realty & Construction thus forming the privately-held company known as Tishman West Companies and became President and Chief Operating Officer. During his tenure as Chief Operating Officer of Tishman West, Mr. Levy was in charge of the various departments responsible for planning, developing and managing over 30 million square feet of commercial office building projects throughout the West.

Mr. Levy is a graduate of the School of Real Estate of Washington University, St. Louis. Additionally, he is a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management and became a Certified Property Manager in 1962. Levy has been a real estate professional his entire business career and has been a guest speaker at numerous professional organizations' national and international conventions. 

Atanas Garov – Managing Director, COLLIERS International Bulgaria
Atanas Garov has an MBA in International Business from Thunderbird, AGSIM. Before joining Colliers, Mr. Garov worked at Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets Group in New York. Mr. Garov was heading the Corporate Services and Investments in COLLIERS International, Bulgaria for one and a half years before moving on to fulfil the tasks as Managing Director of COLLIERS International in Bulgaria.
Colliers International is one of the world’s leading real estate companies with 248 offices in 51 countries worldwide. The list of services provided by the company includes residential brokerage service, tenant representation, property management, investment services, development advisory, market research and consultancy, commercial brokerage service, property valuation, complete care service. Some of the projects to which COLLIERS International contributes with its real estate knowledge are Mall of Sofia, Residential Park Sofia, Business Park Sofia, Business Park Varna, Town Center Sofia, etc.

Daniel Lopez Minano – President of Grupo Creamos
Spanish Grupo Creamos has been investing and developing hotels, residential and vacation properties, both in Spain and in other regions of the world, for years. Especially for the group’s expansion in Russia and Bulgaria, Bravo Real Estate has been established. Bravo will invest, develop, manage and sale properties in the region. The President of Grupo creamos, mr. Daniel Lopez Minano will participate as a keynote speaker in the panel discussion Satellite towns – a new trend in residential investments.

Ivan Velkov - General Manager, COLLIERS International Bulgaria
Since his graduation as an economist from BI Economics in 1992, Ivan Velkov has been engaged in the consultancy services for financial organizations and multinational companies such as DTZ/CYL Corporate Real Estate Service/Asia Pacific. With his EMBA from CUE&B and 12 years of managerial experience in very dynamic and multicultural environment, Mr. Velkov has both the academic background and real life expertise to be a Strategic HR Manager of Colliers International, which as of the end of the last year he successfully combines with the functions of  a General Manager of the company for Bulgaria.

Simeon Mitev – President of Chance 96 Real Estate 
“CHANCE - 96'' real estate agency was established in December 1995. Since 1999 the company specializes in industrial projects, plots of land for manufacturing and storage facilities with specific use. The company has also gained experience in unification of plots of land. “CHANCE - 96'' has been involved in the completion of big deals for sale of land on the territory of Sofia municipality and all over the country. It has participated in the unification and land acquisition of 200 000 sq. m designated for the construction of Business Park Sofia. 

Arch. Valeri Leviev – Managing Director of Elta Consult AD, an associated partner of CB Richard Ellis for Bulgaria
Mr. Leviev is a Certified International Property Specialist from National Association of Realtors (NAR) USA, with additional courses in Brokerage, Office Management, Marketing, Financial analysis of real estate projects and many others. He is Licensed Bulgarian Evaluator and licensed member of NRPA (National Real Property Association- Bulgaria).

Arch. Valeri Leviev was Vice President of the Central European Real Estate Associations Network (CEREAN) for year 2001-2002, President for 2000-2001.
Member of AmCham Bulgaria since 1999. Participating in REMI - Bulgaria (Real Estate Market Index) creation as a member of real estate committee-AmCham.

Arch. Valeri Leviev has graduated from the University of Architecture, Sofia, Bulgaria. He has 11 years of experience as an architect - designer for Sofia municipality – Sofproekt company dealing with strategic projects in the field of urban development, public works and housing construction.

Cory Hrncirik – Head of Central & Eastern European Research at CB Richard Ellis

Cory Hrncirik is responsible for coordinating research in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia. The CEE Research team consists of 10 specialists throughout the region, who form an integral part of the EMEA Research & Consulting network of CB Richard Ellis. Cory works with the research experts in each CEE market to ensure that research products and services are uniform across the region and that CB Richard Ellis stays abreast of market developments in the quickly expanding CEE markets. 
 
Cory joined the Prague office of CB Richard Ellis in April 2002 as the Research Analyst and Marketing/PR manager. As part of his duties, Cory maintained databases, created reports and presentations, assisted the investment consultancy department in due diligence, and was involved in the analysis of cash flow and GAAP analysis for various tenants.  In 2003 Cory began to coordinate research for Central Europe, with the remit expanded in 2004 to include the Eastern European region as well.

Valeri Valchev - CEO of FORTON International

Valeri Valchev came to Address Real Estate
JSC to restructure its commercial property brokerage and advisory businesses. The results are FORTON International and the present association with Cushman & Wakefield / Healey & Baker.

Valeri has been leading FORTON since its establishment. He is responsible for managing directly all major projects and is the interface between operational teams and FORTON's most important clients.

Valeri has more than five years of practical international experience as a lawyer with the law firm White & Case LLP. He also has more than two years of international and local real estate advisory experience.

Paul Kornreich - CEO of Bulgaria Real Estate Group

Mr. Kornreich graduated at The University of Denver with a major in Real Estate in 1981 with the express purpose of working for his fathers Development Company in Century City, California. The company has been a mid size Real Estate Developer that builds and manages over 1000 apartments and invests in shopping centers and office buildings with their own and client funds.

Mr. Kornreich came to Bulgaria in 1998 and then moved here full time in 2002 to pursue the investment business. His Company, Bulgaria Real Estate Group, is one of the few, if not the only American Real Estate firm that lives and works in Bulgaria. In addition, because of his personal background of spending 15 years in ski resorts and becoming a professional skier and windsurfing for the past 20 years he is an expert on Ski and Beach Resorts.

Petar Nikolov – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Intertime Continental PLC

For almost 14 years Intertime Continental PLC has been among the most successfully developing companies from the sphere of construction and investments in Bulgaria. The company has built 40 buildings with a total area of 147 680 sq. m. and has 1426 clients. Since the very beginning of the company’s establishment Mr. Petar Nikolov has been its owner and manager. In 1991 he graduated from the Technical University of Sofia, subject Production Automation. Mr. Petar Nikolov is also the author of the conception for effective personnel management Gold Management, put to practice by the successfully implemented human resources management system in „Intertime Continental” PLC and in all other companies which are a part of the holding structure managed by him.

...and many others.

RINFOR

Real Estate & Investment Forum

31 May - 3 June 2005, Hilton Sofia Bulgaria

PROGRAMME

TUESDAY 31 May 2005

9:30 - 17:30 Registration of the participants and conference materials reception.

WEDNESDAY, 1 June 2005

10:15 – 10:45 Official opening.

10:45 – 11:00 Refreshment break & Networking.

11:00 – 12:00 Panel discussion: Regeneration – a chance to revitalise disadvantaged areas. (This panel is organized in association with the British Embassy in Bulgaria)
Speakers:
Ms. Christine McNeill – First Secretary Trade and Investment – British Embassy – Sofia
Ms. Violeta Konova – Head expert in sector “Coordination and Information Service” – Executive Agency State  Property of Ministry of Defense
Mr. Stelian Stoychev –  Chairman of “Resource Center” Foundation
Mr. Rossen Kolev – General Manager of  Vector Management Bulgaria
Mr. Valeri Naydenov – Head expert in MRRB
Mr. Daniel Petrov – Sliven Municipality
Mr. Ivan Vatahov– Sofia Echo Newspaper- Moderator

12:00 – 12:15 Networking.

12:15 – 13:30 Panel discussion: Regeneration – a chance to revitalise disadvantaged areas. (Part II)

13:30 – 14:15 Networking.

14:15 – 15:00 Panel discussion: Hotel chains in South Eastern Europe – enlargement projects, new market players.
Speakers:
Mrs. Frederique Raveau –  Director Development Central & Eastern Europe in Accor, FranceFrance
Mr. Josef Halbherr - Managing Director of Kempinski Bulgaria 
Mrs. Donka Sokolova  Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Travel Agents
Mr. Rumen Draganov – Chairman of the Tourist Council – Sofia                           Mr. Blagoy Ragin - Chairman of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association
Mr. Rumen Sokolov – Investor.bg - Moderator

15:00 – 15:15 Networking.

15:15 – 16:00 Panel discussion: Hotel chains in South Eastern Europe – enlargement projects, new market players. (Part II)

16:00 – 16:15 Refreshment break & Networking.

16:15 – 17:30  Panel discussion: Business buildings in Bulgaria and their opportunity to attract institutional investors.

Sponsored by: FORTON INTERNATIONAL A CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD HEALEY & BAKER ASSOCIATE

Speakers:
Ms. Janet Woo – Associate Banker, Property and Tourism Team, EBRD London
Mr . Jussi Pohjanpalo – Associate Banker, EBRD ( Sofia ) 
Mr. Paul Rivlin – Head of Real Estate Investment Banking Europe in EUROHYPO AG 
Mrs. Roberta Tumpel – Project Manager in Investkredit Austria
Mr. Stefan Danailov  – Manager "Office Buildings" in Forton International a Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker Associate
Mr. Tzanko Tzankov – senior expert in “Investment consulting”  in Forton International a Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker Associate
arch. Valeri Leviev – Managing Director of Elta Consult EAD (in associate with CB Richard Ellis)

Ms. Dessislava Danina – Nova Television- Moderator

19:30 +   RINFOR’s opening cocktail party.

Sponsored by: WEISS PROFIL       

PARALLEL PROGRAMME - VIHREH HALL, HILTON

15:15 – 16:00 Presentation: VENATTO MARBLE STONE - new tiling material for indoor and outdoor use
Faciliator: 
Mr. Stoyan Gochev – FORMA D

THURSDAY, 2 June 2005

09:45 – 11:00 Panel discussion: Retail and entertainment centers – new types of investments in Bulgaria.

Sponsored by: BANKA DSK (OTP GROUP)

Speakers:
Mr. Eli Egosi – CEO of Mall of Sofia
Mr. Henrik Stig Moeller – Senior Vice President – TK Development – Denmark
Mr. Marin Zgurev – CEO of Densi Stroy Ltd.
Mr. Stefan Kossev – Managing Director of Piccadilly EAD
Mr. Yordan Yordanov – Head of Project Finance Department, Corporate Banking Division of DSK Bank EAD
Mr. David Davidov – Director of Commercial & Brokerage Services in Colliers International
eng. Traycho Popov – representative of Stroytawn Ltd.
Ms. Ganeta Sagova – 24 Hours Newspaper - Moderator

11:00 – 11:15 Refreshment break & Networking.

11:15 – 12:00 Panel discussion: Retail and entertainment centers – new types of investments in Bulgaria. (Part II)

12:00 – 12:15 Networking.

  
12:15 – 13:30 Panel discussion: Lack of equilibrium between supply and demand of state-of-the-art storage facilities in South Eastern Europe and investors’ penetration into this niche – when and who is to be expected?
Speakers:
Mr. Vanio Alexiev – Managing Director of Biomet Ltd.
arch. Valeri Leviev – Managing Director of Elta Consult EAD (in associate with CB Richard Ellis)
Mr. Zlatan Enchev - representative of Forton International a Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker Associate
Mr. Radosvet Markov- Architect Urbanist
Ms. Diana Dimitrova – Pari Newspaper - Moderator

Sponsored by: ELTA CONSULT CB RICHARD ELLIS

13:30 – 14:15 Networking.

14:15 – 15:00 Panel discussion: Bulgaria’s accession to the EU – opportunities and challenges the real estate players face in the country.
Speakers:
Mr. Dobromir Ganev  –  General Manager of Foros NCRE

15:00 – 15:15 Networking.

15:15 – 16:00 Panel discussion: Residential market – opportunities for growth or a risk of saturation?
Speakers:
Mr. Krassimir Gumnishki – Manager Mortgage Financing in Creditex

Mr. Strachil Ivanov –  General Manager of Yavlena Ltd.
Mr. Dobromir Ganev  –  General Manager of Foros NCRE
Mrs. Vessela Barbukova  –  General Manager of Aspecti Plus Ltd.
Mr. Ivan Georgiev–  General Manager of Orbi Engineering Ltd
Mr. Vassil Chobanov – Radio New Europe - Moderator

16:00 – 16:15 Refreshment break & Networking.

16:15 – 17:00  Panel discussion: Residential market – opportunities for growth or a risk of saturation? (Part II)

17:00 – 17:15  Networking.

17:15 – 18:00  Panel discussion: Opportunities and threats in the developing real estate market in Bulgaria. 
Speakers:
Mr. Atanas Garov – Managing Director of Colliers International - Bulgaria 

18:00 +  A glass of wine with Colliers International. (Event sponsor)

PARALLEL PROGRAMME - VIHREH HALL, HILTON

12:15 – 14:00 Presentation: Rare ventilated ceramic facades from AGROB Buchtal - Germany
Faciliator: 
Representative of Optima S Ltd.

FRIDAY, 3 June 2005

09:45 – 11:00 Panel discussion: High yield or low risk – the dilemma facing the international property investors and Bulgaria’s chance to appear on their maps.
Speakers:
Mr. James Rigassio – Commercial Attache – Embassy of the USA
Mrs. Jill Urban-Karr – Vice President – Stewart International, USA
Mr. Bill Franks – Vice President –  Sigma Bleyzer, USA
Mr. Georgi Kirov – Senior Consultant Investment & Advisory Department in Colliers International
Mr. Michael Hunsberger – Managing Director Real Estate - BAEF
Mr. Svetoslav Naidenov – Investment Policy Directorate, Ministry of Economy
Ms. Nina Tsaneva – Bulgarian National Radio - Moderator

11:00 – 11:15 Refreshment break & Networking.

11:15 – 12:00 Panel discussion: High yield or low risk – the dilemma facing the international property investors and Bulgaria’s chance to appear on their maps. (Part II)

12:00 – 12:15 Networking.

12:15 – 13:30 Panel discussion: Vacation hotels or second home resorts – where to invest now?
Speakers:
Mr. Peter Dobcak – Tourism Brain Trust, Austria
arch. Nikolay Damov – architect of vacation village Duni
Mr. Paul Kornreich – Chairman & CEO of Bulgaria Real Estate Group
Mrs. Galya Clark – publisher of the Bulgarian Property Digest - Moderator

13:30 – 14:15 Networking.

14:15 – 15:00 Panel discussion: Participation of the Bulgarian construction companies in large-scale investment projects –  who is ready to face the challenge?
Speakers:
eng. Georgi Grigorov – Federal Secretary of the National Building Federation
Mr. Ivan Boykov – Chairman of the Bulgarian Branch Chamber “Roads” 
construction companies – members of the above mentioned organizations. 
Mr. Krassimir Todorov – Cash Newspaper - Moderator

15:00 – 15:15 Networking.

15:15 – 16:00 Panel discussion: Participation of the Bulgarian construction companies in large-scale investment projects –  who is ready to face the challenge? (Part II)

16:00 – 16:15 Refreshment break & Networking.

16:15 – 17:30  Panel discussion: Major hotel projects – achievements of the Bulgarian architecture for the last 15 years.
Host: Arch & Art Exchange Newspaper

Sponsored by: IDEAL STANDARD - VIDIMA AD

Speakers:
arch. Petko Yovchev
arch. Yavor Vulov
arch. Kalin Tiholov
arch. Petar Dikov
arch. Vladislav Nikolov
arch. Rossitza Yovcheva
arch. Nikolay Tuleshkov - Arch & Art Exchange Newspaper - Moderator

During the Sixth Real Estate & Investment Forum (November 9-12 2004) the participants acquainted with new investment projects and took part in the following panel discussions:

Is Bulgaria attractive enough for investments in real estates – comparative analysis with the rest of the countries from South-Eastern Europe

Host: COLLIERS International Bulgaria

Speaker: Atanas Garov, Executive Director of Colliers International Bulgaria.

The potential of the Bulgarian market to attract international investment funds

Highlights: What are the specifics of the operation and the spheres of interest of the international investment funds? What is the potential of the Bulgarian real estate market to attract international investment funds? Which international investment funds show interest in Bulgaria?

Moderator – Iva Georgieva, Optimum Center Аssociation 
Panelists: Mr. Mirolub Vutov – Executive Director of Levercom Financial Consultants, Mr. Michael Hunsberger – Managing Director Real Estate and Mortgage Financing, Bulgarian American Enterprise Fund,  Mr. Georgi Kirov – Senior Consultant for Investment Projects, COLLIERS International Bulgaria,  Mr. Gerd Kremer – President of GLL Real Estate Partners, Mr. Dieter Semmelroth – Director of Corporative Finance in TUI AG, Germany,  Pavel Tzanev – Commercial Properties Manager, Address Real Estates, Sofia; Georgi Manchev – Forem Consulting.

Bulgaria's natural assets, cultural and historical treasures: new niches for successful investment in tourism

Highlights: Bulgarian cultural and historical heritage. Challenge and opportunity for investors in tourism. Which are Bulgaria's principal cultural and historical heritage sites, and how to turn them into a tourist attraction? Success stories in investment in cultural and sight-seeing tourism in Bulgaria.    

Panelists: Rumen Draganov (Moderator) – Chairman of Sofia Tourist Council, Prof. Vasil Nikolov - Director of Archeological Institute with Museum to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), Margarita Vaklinova – Deputy Director of Archeological Institute with Museum to the BAS, Mitya Dimitrov - Executive Director of Sozopol Foundation (investor for a hotel center – cultural heritage site in the Town of Solzopol), Blagovest Lefterov – Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bulgarian Association of Travel Agents, Rumyan Ganchev – Deputy District Governor of the Ruse District.

Investment projects of vacation villages in Bulgaria

Highlights: Why construction of vacation villages in Bulgaria has boomed? Seaside or mountain? Promising niches and successful investment projects in vacation villages. Are investments in vacation villages a worthwhile alternative to investments in hotels?

Host: FOROS – National company for real estates
Presenter: Dobromir Ganev

The expansion of major retail chains in Bulgaria and their impact on the real estate market.

Highlights: What are the reasons for the expansion of the major retail chains in Bulgaria? Which new retail chains show interest in investing in Bulgaria? How the construction of a larger retail store influences the real estate market in a specific region?

MALL – investment project

Presented by: Eng. Traycho Popov – Stroytown Ltd.  (Project Developer)

Major office building projects: the achievements of Bulgarian architecture over the last 15 years

Highlights: How investments in office buildings in Bulgaria in recent years have influenced the urban environment? Specific peculiarities in the designing of office buildings. Major office building projects in Bulgaria. Tendencies in office building architecture.         

Moderator: Arch. Nikolay Tuleshkov – Manager of “Arch & Аrt Exchange”
Panelists: arch. Borislav Bogdanov, arch. Lilo Popov, arch. Milcho Bogdanov, Prof. Dr. Arch. Stefan Popov, Dr. Arch. Jeko Tilev, Arch. Diana Ilieva

Investments in resort infrastructure: prerequisite for growth of mountain tourism in Bulgaria

Highlights: Do investments in mountain resort infrastructure endanger the environment? Does the resort infrastructure in the existing mountain resorts need expansion and modernization? How does partnership between the local authorities and private capital contribute to the growth of winter resorts? What is the potential for establishment of new mountain resorts in Bulgaria? Examples of implemented and forthcoming mountain resort projects.   

Panelists: Alexander Kravarov – Mayor of Bansko Municipality, Blagovesta Hristova – Deputy Mayor of Samokov Municipality

International Hotel Network KEMPINSKI in Bulgaria

Speaker: Josef Halbherr - Executive Director of KEMPINSKI, Bulgaria

The industrial estate market in South-Eastern Europe: state, prospects, comparative characteristics

Highlights: Types of industrial properties. State of the industrial properties market in Bulgaria and in the rest of South-eastern Europe. Logistics parks and logistics centres: a promising niches. Industrial zones and their importance in attracting foreign investment to production. Prospects for development of industrial property investments in South-eastern Europe. Key investors.                                                                                                    

Moderator: Tatyana Dimitrova - Darik Radio                                                       Panelists: Rumen Danailov - Commercial Director of Vectra Ltd., a representative of ROYAL FRANS MAAS for Bulgaria; Philip Rombaut – a member of the BIBA Board of Directors, and Executive Director of Agropolychim; Valentina Aleksandrova – Director of Information and Legal Servicing Direction at the Bulgarian Investment Agency; Yordan Kazakov – Director on Investment Policies and International Cooperation at the Ruse Free Zone PLC.

Balneology and SPA – alternatives of investments in mass tourism

Highlights: Specifics in investments in balneo, wellness and SPA centres.Are more than 500 mineral springs in Bulgaria enough for attracting the investments in this field? Major investors in welness and SPA centres.

Panelists: Valentin Parvanov – Deputy Minister of Economy, Tsveti Milanova – Chairman of the National Association of Balneology and Tourism, Assist. Prof. Veselina Edreva, Consultant of the National Association of Balneology and Tourism, Stefan Sharlopov – Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Royal Holiday” AD, etc.   

The trend of the residential properties market during 2004 and its influence on the investments in the new construction

Host: Address Real Estate, Moderator - Ms.Pepi Dimitrova – PR of Address Real Estate

Panelists: : Ms. Svetoslava Georgieva - Address Real Estate, Mr. Kostadin Shotev, representative of Victors company, Albena Stoyanova, manager of department New Construction of Address Real Estate. 

 During the Fifth Real Estate & Investment Forum (May 17-20 2004) the participants acquainted with new investment projects and took part in the following panel discussions:

Leading construction and building companies and their role for the development of the industry.

Panelists: Georgy Daraktchiev - DNSK, Kaltcho Kaltchev - Bulgarian building and construction chamber, Kiril Vasilev - Chelios, Ventsislav Valchanov - Galchev Engineering Group

Golf courses and a new tourist product on the Bulgarian market - golf tourism

Panelists: Krasimir Gergov - Bulgarian golf association, Georgy Ivanov -  Bulgarian golf federation, Lilian Todorov - Air Sofia, Rado Todorov - Black sea golf resort, Allan Egford - golf consultant, etc.

The role of leading design bureaus in the implementation of large-scale investment projects

Panelists: Arch. Assen Dikanski, Arch. Nikolay Yaramlakov, Arch. Atanas Panov, Arch. Kalin Tiholov, etc. Moderator: Veselin Simov - ROCA BULGARIA

Growth of investment in tourist sites - a fact now, but for how long?

Panelists: Mr. Dimitar Hadjinikolov - Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Bulgaria, Donka Sokolova - Chairperson of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Association of Travel Agents (BATA), Nely Sandalska - CEO of Balkantourist AD, Simeon Monchev - Procurator of Profilaktika i Rehabilitatsia EAD, Lyubomir Pankovski - Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alma Tour BG, etc.

Luxury residential complexes - a new trend in residential construction

Panelists: Egmont Yakimov - Manager of Bokar OOD, Eng. Liudmila Nancheva - Financial Director of Rumen Vatkov II, Snezhana Kapanova - Manager of Lux Invest OOD - Gabrovo, etc.

The office space market in Bulgaria - current status, prospects, major players

Panelists: Michail Petrov - Soravia Bulgaria, DimitarYazov - Manager of Yazov OOD (Rilon SA), Martin Paev - Executive Director of TBI BAK Reit, etc.

The rebirth of the industry in Bulgaria - new projects and success stories

Panelists: Valentina Aleksandrova and Christo Etropolski - InvestBulgaria agency, heads of industrial enterprises, branch organisations, etc.

Has foreign investors interest in Bulgarian real estate become a tendency?

Panelists: Philip Philipov - managing director of Address Real Estate AD, Georgy Kirov - investments consultant Colliers International, Nasko Atanassov - executive director of Imoti Group Bulgaria Consortium, Valentin Gradev - manager of Gradev Real Estate

Alternatives for funding investment projects in real estate and construction - REIT's and other equity funding

Panelists: Ralitsa Agayn - submitted the Special Investment Purpose Companies Act (REIT's Act), Mirolyub Vutov - Manager of Levercom Financial Consultants, Hristo Karamfilov - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bench Mark Finance