BULGARIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Yordan Naydenov and Hristian Gueorguiev, Boyanov & Co.
Balkan peninsula was the acquisition by the Bulgarian company Plasthim-T AD, a leading foil and packaging producer, of its Italian com - petitor Manucor’s production base located near Naples, Italy. Another interesting example of Bulgarian invest - ments abroad was the announced acquisition of a large pharmaceuticals portfolio comprising consumer healthcare and prescription products in several CIS countries made by the pharma - ceuticals producer Sopharma [BUL:SFA]. The acquisition will be completed in stages, with stage 1 having been closed in 2024. Another notable outbound investment was the acquisition completed by the technology company Telelink Business Services Group – a prominent actor with a commercial footprint that spans 11 countries, serving clients across four continents and 45 countries – of the Croatian software company Sedam IT. On the same subject of outbound investments, the all-round provider of IT, data, tech and vari - ous other software services Sirma Group Hold - ing acquired a majority stake in the Romanian software company Roweb – a mobile app devel - oper. The IT developer Ontotext – a software company with a focus on database management and until recently part of the above-mentioned Sirma Group Holding – purchased the Austrian Semantic Web Company, where the joint enter - prise will now operate under the Graphwise brand. The smart home devices producer Shelly Group, which not long ago acquired the Dutch smart door lock company LOQED, is keeping steady on the path of growth and development. Among the deals regarding emblematic proper - ties ranks the sale of Park Center Sofia, the first shopping centre in Sofia, which opened its doors
in May 2006. The mall changed ownership for a fourth time in favour of TSH Investment. This showcase of major real estate asset deals concludes with the acquisition of the former ten- storey headquarters of Alpha Bank on Sofia’s Tsarigradsko Chaussee Blvd by the Bulgarian aerospace manufacturer EnduroSat. Turning our heads towards the renewable ener - gy sector, arguably the largest M&A transaction in this sector was the acquisition by the Hong Kong-registered United Energy Group Limited of two renewable energy projects in Bulgaria with a total capacity of 250 MW. An interesting interaction between software and renewable energy was observed in the pur - chase of about 40% of the shares in the capital of ADEX Energy, an entity developing products for management, data processing, forecasting of energy production and trading, by one of the largest Bulgarian solar park builders and solar solutions suppliers. Another notable investment in the IT sector was the contribution made by the European Innova - tion Council to the capital of Dronamics – a Bul - garian company which is largely considered to be the world’s first cargo drone airline. What to expect in 2025 and beyond The business environment in Bulgaria in 2025 and over the next couple of years will continue to be marked by several large pan-European or even global trends – the digital transforma - tion and the green transition. On a separate note, Bulgaria should make efforts to overcome the consequences of the war in Ukraine for its economy and build mechanisms to protect its economy in various cases of an unstable macro - economic and global environment. These trends
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