Bulgarian pension funds may invest in local water sector

The Bulgarian government will urge the local pension funds to inject some cash in the nation's underinvested water sector which needs to absorb 10 mln euro by 2015, said deputy regional development minister Dimcho Mihalevski.A meeting has already been held with the investment committee of the Bulgarian association of supplementary pension insurance companies to acquaint them with the new bill on water and sewerage services.The two sides discussed the placement of bonds by the water companies that could be added to the portfolios of the pension funds.Milen Markov, chairman of the investment committee, said the government could put in place a mechanism to ensure that a portion of the future revenues of the issuers will be set aside to repay the issued debt.The pension companies are interested in buying at interest rates close to the market levels and yield levels higher than those of government securities and lower than corporate bonds, said Markov.The idea will be discussed also with the EBRD and consulting companies.A failure to raise the money needed to overhaul the nation's water supply infrastructure would push the completion of the reform back towards 2035-2040.