UniCredit Bulbank is one of the financing institutions of the largest project in Bulgaria - the Golf & Residential Community project. It is located only 30 km away from Sofia, with a quick access which takes 40 minutes on the renovated road to Samokov, with a view to Iskar dam, the natural forests around it and Rila, Vitosha, Plana and Stara Planina mountains. 

The project covers an area of 3,000 decares and will be a space for active living and recreation, with an 18-hole golf course, a 5-star hotel, a centre with numerous additional elements and facilities, family housing and vacation properties.

OKOL Lake Park is not planned to be either a closed or a vacation complex, but rather to be a boutique settlement offering all amenities and services such as a school up to 7th grade, a kindergarten, a medical centre, an office area, a sports and adventure centre, a farm, shops, restaurants, a property company providing concierge services and numerous other services.

“Despite the difficult pandemic situation in which we are living, it is encouraging that entrepreneurs do not stop seeking opportunities for development and provide professional employment to many people. Our bank, in its role as a reliable partner, will continue to support investors in Bulgaria and to strive as much as possible to create a secure and stable financial environment for them to implement projects of public interest”, commented Raluca Popescu, Head of Corporate, Investment and Private Banking Division and member of the Management Board of UniCredit Bulbank.

OKOL Lake Park is currently under construction, the construction site was opened on 1 August 2020. The complex will have an entirely new infrastructure which is to include 21 km of new roads, water supply for drinking water and household purposes - from the Rila Water Pipeline, and for irrigation - from the Iskar river, two types of sewage systems - a household one with 5 treatment plants of the highest class and a rainwater one, as well as an entirely new power distribution network. In 2023, the investor plans to commission the infrastructure, to open the golf course and the hotel complex, and the first residents to be in their new homes.  The implementation of the project is fully compliant with environmental protection practices and is aligned with the principles of sustainable development.

“The challenges in front of us are some parts of this unconventional for Bulgaria project, but sometimes you have to face the market and introduce new ideas. Our concept is for a balanced project with an overall harmonious environment, by which we prove that a project of such a high level can happen in Bulgaria, too, and can be developed by Bulgarians. Instead of a maximum extent of built-up areas and maximum density of the urban sprawl, we want to offer deurbanisation - far away from cities, from polluted air and from noise, and closer to the sense of real freedom“, shared eng. Valentin Kanazirev, Chair of the Board of Directors and shareholder in Markan Holding and a visionary of OKOL Lake Park.

---

About Markan Holding AD:

Markan Holding AD is a Bulgarian holding. Its main investments are in the field of construction, real estate properties and hotel management. The company owns the Novotel Sofia Hotel, the American-English Academy - a prestigious international school, and a number of other shareholdings in approximately 20 subsidiaries. A key unit in the structures of the holding is Markan EOOD - one of the top leaders in the construction sector in Bulgaria, which was established in 1993. The construction company is specialised in consulting and overall implementation of some of the most large-scale and complex investment projects in Bulgaria. It applies state-of-the-art solutions in the fields of technology and organisation in the projects it designs and executes.

About UniCredit Bulbank:

UniCredit Bulbank is among the leaders on the Bulgarian banking market as a leading bank in terms of assets, loans for companies and households, deposits for companies and individuals, share capital, etc. The bank holds leading positions with regard to the profitability and efficiency indicators.  The bank is a member of UniCredit Group, which follows a clear and long-term strategy to be a successful Pan-European commercial bank. The Group has extensive local and international experience, which it shares with its clients through its leading banks on 13 core markets in Europe: Italy, Germany, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. UniCredit services clients in another 18 countries worldwide through its international network.

---

Additional media information:

Ekaterina Ancheva, tel +359 894 518 193 , flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Darina Radoslavova, tel +359 887 505273, Ebsjob/SbeptmbwpwbAVojDsfejuHspvq/CH