Tel-Aviv listed Gazit-Globe is planning to spend $260 mln to develop shopping centres in Bulgaria. The company told news agency Reuters it will build between 15 and 20 malls over the next five years in the country. Property acquisition and construction will be managed by the company's unit Gazit Globe Israel.

Tel-Aviv listed Gazit-Globe is planning to spend $260 mln to develop shopping centres in Bulgaria. The company told news agency Reuters it will build between 15 and 20 malls over the next five years in the country. Property acquisition and construction will be managed by the company's unit Gazit Globe Israel.

'The company has so far bought property and plots of land for about EUR 20 mln to develop malls and offices in Sofia, and is about to complete another deal to buy a plot of land for EUR 10 mln,' ceo Ronen Ashkenazi said in a statement.

Gazit has building rights for 25,000 m2 on a 6.6 acre plot in Bulgaria's second city of Plovdiv. It also acquired a building in Sofia to house its headquarters in the country.