Schoenherr has advised the Liechtenstein Group on an unspecified investment in PV-Invest, a renewable energy company active in Austria and Southern and Southeastern Europe.

For our Checking In feature, we reach out to partners and heads of practice across CEE to learn how specific practice areas are faring in their jurisdictions. This time around we asked Data Protection experts: Overall, how compliant would you say economic agents are with relevant local regulations on data protection, and what are the main gaps that have yet to be addressed?

Amendments to the Competition Protection Act ("CPA") came into force on 26 February 2021. On paper, the changes look good and are another step towards competition rules that are aligned with European regulations. In particular:

Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski, working with lead counsel Gianni & Origoni, has advised Alperia S.p.A., Dolomiti Energia Holding, and Finest S.p.A. on the sale of PVB Power Bulgaria AD and five hydropower plants along the Iskar River in Bulgaria to Akuo Energy, a French renewable energy independent power producer. Spasov & Bratanov advised Akuo Energy on the deal.

Schoenherr and Kambourov & Partners have advised the United Group on the acquisition of Sofia's Net1 telecom operator. Schoenherr also advised the United Group on the acquisition of Digital Cable Television, a telecommunications operator in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, operating under the brand name N3. Dimitrov & Partners advised the sellers of N3 on that deal.

Kinstellar has advised the KBC Group N.V. and its Bulgarian subsidiary DZI-Life Insurance EAD, on their successful EUR 77.7 million bid for NN’s Bulgarian pension and life insurance businesses. The deal, which remains subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the course of 2021.

Former Senior Associates Donka Stoyanova and Pencho Stanchev have been promoted to Partner at Dimitrov, Petrov & Co.

Schoenherr has advised Germany's Osram GmbH on the sale of its Bulgarian business to the Sanmina Corporation. Hogan Lovells and Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov advised Sanmina Corporation on the deal.

It has been a challenging year for the Bulgarian M&A market, with limited activity, just like in 2019. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons for the slowdown is that business is overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. Many acquirers abandoned expansion plans in order to focus on protecting both their financial stability and their employees, while waiting to assess the market environment and evaluate potential next steps. Many planned or already-started deals were cancelled at early stages (such as following a letter of intent or during preliminary due diligence) as uncertainty about the fulfilment of potential goals made the transactions risky.

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative is one of the most ambitious development projects since the turn of the century. Through thousands of individual projects implemented under the BRI umbrella, China intends to develop land and sea corridors to support economic trade and development, integrate various regions of the world, and facilitate policy coordination, connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial services, and the connection of people. The BRI was launched in 2013, and last year was revamped with a new set of objectives.

On November 18, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Gugushev & Partners had helped Fr. Lurssen Werft GmbH & Co KG, part of Northern Germany's Lurssen shipyard group, win a public tender for the supply of two multipurpose modular patrol vessels to the Bulgarian Navy. CEEIHM spoke with Dirk Malgowski, Managing Director at Fr. Lurssen Werft, to learn more about the matter.

On January 18, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that DGKV had represented the Mezzanine Partners consortium in a public procurement dispute with the Bulgarian Fund of Funds. CEEIHM spoke with Evgeny Angelov, Managing Partner at Silverline Capital, to learn more. 

“It’s very complicated at this moment, with most people changing their mind very often,” says Irena Georgieva, Managing Partner of PPG Lawyers in Sofia, about the situation in Bulgaria. “Everybody is focused on their personal Covid-19-related problems and it’s hard to adequately measure what the community really thinks about the government, as somehow all political decisions are inextricably linked with pandemic issues.” 

Zaiwalla & Co has helped Bulgarian gas distributor Overgas Group reach a settlement in a dispute with Russia’s Gazprom.

DGKV provided local advice to California's Sanmina Corporation on its acquisition of Osram EOOD, a Bulgarian lights and lighting devices manufacturer owned by Germany's Osram GmbH. Hogan Lovells was lead counsel to Sanmina on the deal. Schoenherr advised Osram GmbH on the deal.

Energy consumers in Bulgaria have been facing two major challenges lately. Within the last several years power prices on the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) are showing uncanny volatility. At times they reached remarkable peaks, not only for the Balkans, but for the EU as well. Then, the security of supply has been in doubt, due to sometimes poor power connection.

Boyanov & Co. has defended the interests of European airline Wizz Air in an appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria, involving an “unjust discrimination” challenge to the terminal charges set by Sofia Airport.

Bulgaria's Penkov Markov & Partners has joined the Lex Adria network, with the firm's Managing Partner, Nikolay Cvetanov, serving as a member of Lex Adria’s Managing Board with existing board members Matjaz Ulcar, Hrvoje Vidan, Georgi Dimitrov, and Slobodan Doklestic.