BULGARIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Yordan Naydenov and Hristian Gueorguiev, Boyanov & Co.
lators, as the mandates of many expired over three years ago, rendering them indecisive and reluctant to implement reforms or take serious measures when necessary. Lastly, the progress towards completion of judicial reform following the latest amendments to the Bulgarian Consti - tution (in early 2024) is of great importance but is still falling behind the schedule of the newly elected government. The Bulgarian courts cur - rently lack a high degree of trust, which is crucial for the stability of the business environment and the execution of significant M&A transactions. In part, this is also due to the expired mandate of the Supreme Judicial Council, which is responsi - ble for the appointment, promotion and dismiss - al of state judges. The parliament needs to elect the members of the Supreme Judicial Council, which by law belong to the parliamentary quota; however, since qualified majorities are needed to get this job done, a larger consensus between the ruling parties and the opposition needs to be reached. Judging from the overly sharp tensions between the parliamentary represented parties, this prospect is still not visible on the horizon. Was 2024 a good year for Bulgaria? The analysis of M&A in 2024 could largely indi - cate what sectors were of interest and what could be expected in 2025. The year marked a slight upward trend compared to the normal vol - umes for Bulgaria (70–80 acquisitions), as over 80 transactions were completed. As in previous years, the vast majority of corporate transfers were rather small in size, and outside of renew - able energy and technology companies, most buyers were local. The most attractive sectors for investment were technology, real estate and renewable energy sources. Regrettably, for the first time in 15 years, no new transaction exceed - ing EUR100 million in value was announced. Still, we witnessed one acquisition in the bank - ing sector – the acquisition of 99% of the capi -
tal of Tokuda Bank (a relatively small portfolio bank) by Bulgarian American Credit Bank – and one acquisition in the insurance sector, where Italy’s Generali Holding, which controls Gener - ali Insurance AD in Bulgaria, acquired 100% of one of the largest private insurance funds in the country, United Health Insurance Fund Doverie, (the deal was successfully closed in early 2025). As a result of the acquisition, Generali Insurance doubled the amount of its health insurance pre - miums, becoming the second largest player in the sector, according to the company. In view of the small size of the Bulgarian banking and insurance markets, transactions of this type are rather rare. 2024 stamped the seal on the acquisition of the majority share in one of the largest mobile operators, Yettel Bulgaria, and the network com - pany Cetin Bulgaria by the Abu Dhabi-based telecoms company e&. Further, United Group – the owner of one of the largest mobile opera - tors, Vivacom Bulgaria, and media broadcasters Nova Television – merged the recently acquired satellite television provider Bulsatcom into Viva - com. The deals went through after a successfully completed concentration clearance procedure before the Bulgarian competition watchdog, the Commission for the Protection of Competition. 2024 was a hectic year for the renewable energy sources market. Luckily enough, the interest in renewables is not fading away, but rather the opposite. We witnessed an array of acquisitions, developments to certain milestone phases and even resales of renewable projects. The interest of foreign investors is high, while local investors also make up a significant share of the players in the sector. Analysts are on the same page in saying that this trend will be carried over into 2025 and is even expected to rise further.
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