Russia’s Investbank has decided to open a representative office in Sofia to run the projects of the bank and its local clients and to ensure smooth cooperation with the Bulgarian authorities, the Russian bank said on Tuesday.
Investbank Russia filed on October 18 an application with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to open a representative office in the country, it said in a press release.
“We see huge potential for the development of the economy in Bulgaria,” the press release quoted Sergey Mastyugin, managing partner at Investbank Russia, as saying. “I am convinced that our representative office in Bulgaria will serve as an effective business platform that will support our initiatives in the insurance, banking, and logistics sectors.
The representative office will also boost financial and inter-bank cooperation in the region, which is necessary for the provision of high-quality management of banking and insurance services and pension funds to our clients.”
Mastyugin is also a majority shareholder in United Capital Plc, the press release added.
In late August United Capital said it had signed a final agreement with Austria’s Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) on the acquisition of 92.58% of Bulgaria’s Doverie, the biggest pension insurance company in the country, as the deal would be financed by United Capital’s shareholders.
The deal, which is still pending regulatory approval, has raised public concern as information about the buyer is scarce. Over the past two months United Capital Plc has reshuffled its management three times. The company does not even have a website.