Management knowledge of the local property scene and a tie-up with Bulgarian real estate venture Address Group add to the allure of BLD, which debuted on AIM in March with a £23m placing.

Over the past 13 years chief executive and 5.2% shareholder Christo Iliev has grown Address from minor player to ‘the real estate market leader of Bulgaria’. BLD board members now include Address’ Dimitar Savov and UK property expert John Dodwell (as finance director).

Iliev is looking to invest all the float funds ‘within our first year’, and promises BLD will have ‘first refusal on projects that Address comes across’. BLD recently announced its first project, a complex of holiday apartments and houses near the resort of Albena, an area Iliev insists ‘has the potential to become one of the most popular and attractive and holiday areas in the northern coast of the Black Sea’. Pre-sales of apartments and houses should start next month..

As well as holiday areas of the Black Sea coast, the focus will be on Bulgarian ski resorts and Sofia, the capital of the former Communist country, which has applied to join the EU in 2007, and is now politically stable under a socialist coalition. The Bulgarian economy is growing, and EU accession should give a shot in the arm to the property market.

Investors can expect ‘suitably high’ development returns, as well as solid income with Iliev targeting a 5% yield, even if capital growth fails to rocket. With Jupiter, New Star, F&C and RAB Capital all invested, the shares look a decent speculation.