Kinstellar has served as legal counsel to the SOF Connect consortium on litigation procedures related to its successful participation in the tender that resulted in its receiving the 35-year concession to operate the Sofia airport.
The SOF Connect consortium is led by French infrastructure fund Meridiam and includes Strabag AG and Flughafen Munchen GmbH. In July, 2019 its bid for the 35-year concession was identified as the winner (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on July 18, 2019).
On June 5, 2020, the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court upheld the decision of the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition that the Sofia Airport concession was lawfully granted to SOF Connect and that all appeals of other bidders against the award were unfounded, thereby giving the Bulgarian government the green light to proceed with the signing of the concession contract.
Kinstellar’s litigation team was led by Sofia Managing Partner Diana Dimova and Counsel Mladen Minev and included Partner Antonia Mavrova, Of Counsel Dessislava Fessenko, and Associates Simeon Vachev and Denitsa Kuzeva.