BULGARIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Yordan Naydenov and Hristian Gueorguiev, Boyanov & Co.
capabilities credit facility Security Action for Europe (SAFE). 2025 stamped the seal on another strategic invest - ment – the acquisition of the courier services integra - tor EuShipments.com by Oesterreichische Post AG. The Austrian investor has acquired a majority stake of 70% for a price of EUR55 million, with a call option to acquire the remaining stake over the next four years. Among the other strategic investments, the acquisi - tion by the optics giant Carl Zeiss Jena of a 31.5% minority stake in the optics plant “Zavod za optika”, situated near the town of Panagyurishte, for EUR3.5 million stands out. 2025 also saw the completion of the acquisition of Doverie Health Insurance Fund by Generali Insurance (the only transaction in the Bulgarian insurance market in 2024–2025), as well as the beginning of the integra - tion of the businesses of these two insurers through the transfer of the ongoing concern of Doverie to Gen - erali, a structure that has never been used before. The remaining M&A that occurred throughout 2025 were, according to analysts, “colourful”, ie, diverse but small. In healthcare and the related pharmacy sector, a nota - ble deal was the acquisition of the pharmacy chain Medea by the German leader in pharmaceutical wholesale and retail, the PHOENIX Group. The PHOE - NIX Group is sufficiently well known in the Bulgarian market, as it operates its own pharmacy chain under the brand BENU and also through the franchise brand BETTY, and it is also the owner of one of the leading local pharmaceutical distributors, Phoenix Pharma. In the fossil fuel distribution niche, the owner of the AVIA petrol stations, which has acquired a petroleum hub and several operating petrol stations from Zara- E and which also intends to acquire local properties of the sanctioned Russian giant Gazprom, emerges as a new key player in the sector as a result of the described consolidation. The FMCG sector, traditionally dominated by the Ger - man giants Billa, Kaufland and Lidl, was marked by
interesting events, the most significant of which was the acquisition of the “345” local store chain by anoth - er local chain – DAR. The local franchise chain Mini Mart was supported by a EUR20 million investment supplied by an angel investor. The equity investment funds Black Peak Capital and Invenio supported two regional non-local players – the Serbian coffee shop Kafeterija and its Romanian counterpart “5 to go” – which will strive to expand their presence in Bulgaria. The real estate sector saw the acquisition of a 200,000 sq m land plot with built industrial plant of 43,000 sq m – previously intended to serve as the Bulgarian elec - tric bicycle manufacturing plant of the joint venture Pierer & Maxcom Mobility – for EUR35 million. The buyer is the German machine manufacturer Liebherr, which will situate some of its production line facili - ties there, concrete truck production being the first of them and air-conditioning systems being the second. Future plans also show an intention to house avia - tion industry systems production on the same spot. The joint state-municipal owned company Industrial Zone Zagore paid over EUR28 million to acquire the former airport near the town of Stara Zagora with the intention to use the land plot of 2.2 million sq m for the enlargement of the town’s industrial park. Another large real estate deal was the acquisition of Business Centre Oscar, located in the city centre of Sofia, by Eurobank Bulgaria AD operating under the name Post - bank. This building has nearly 7,000 sq m of above- ground gross floor area, and the transaction price is probably close to the analysts’ estimate of EUR39 mil - lion. The year was also marked by the acquisition of one of the largest retail complexes – Mall Plovdiv – by TSH Investment (a joint venture of Trinity Capital and Hus Invest). The balance sheet value of the real estate property is EUR17.13 million. And we close our real estate showcase with the acquisition of the FairPlay Business Hub Building in Sofia, with a total built-up area of 12,560 sq m (leased by the Israeli company Teva), by a local hi-tech entrepreneur for a purchase price of EUR19.2 million. 2025 was a hectic year for the RES market, as usual. On a positive note, the interest in renewables is not fading away. We witnessed an array of acquisitions, the most notable among which took place abroad, namely, the 100% acquisition of the project company
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