CMS has acted for private property investor Strategy Solution Ltd. on its EUR 1.4 million acquisition of a landmark office building in Sofia, Bulgaria, from six private individuals. Terziyski & Partners advised the sellers.

Schoenherr Partners Ilko Stoyanov in Bulgaria and Slaven Moravcevic in Serbia Talk About The Deal of the Year in Bulgaria

It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year Award winners – the most important, complicated, significant, and valuable deals across Central and Eastern Europe.

Anton Petrov, who led the Competition & Regulatory and TMT practices at Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov, has joined the Sofia office of Kinstellar as Of Counsel and Head of TMT.

Georgiev, Todorov & Co has successfully represented the Port of Burgas on appeal of a decision of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission in an administrative dispute regarding a connection to Bulgaria's national electricity transmission grid.

Georgiev, Todorov & Co has advised COMSED JSC, the largest retail chain for toys and children's accessories in Bulgaria, on a change in the ownership structure of the company, following the approval of Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition.

With amendments to the Energy Act, the Bulgarian legislator established a mechanism for reducing the prices of natural gas already delivered for a period in the past for the regulated market for end household and business consumers. The reduction in prices for end consumers is due to an agreement reached between the state public supplier Bulgargaz and the Russian supplier Gazprom Export.

Kinstellar has advised regional property developer Globe Trade Center on negotiations with Germany’s Commerzbank to lease 3,500 square meters of space at Sofia' Advance Business Center II office building, which is expected to open its doors in the fourth quarter of 2020. Boyanov & Co advised Commerzbank on the deal.

Schoenherr, acting as leader of a consortium of European law firms, has conducted what it describes as "a comprehensive study on the regulatory and administrative requirements for entry and trade on the gas wholesale market in the EU for the European Commission, Directorate General Energy."

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.

“This comes as no surprise, but the main focus of the government is still the COVID-19 crisis,“ says Stefan Tzakov, Managing Partner at Kambourov & Partners in Sofia. Although the situation in Bulgaria was not as bad as in some other countries, Tzakov says, it nonetheless “gave the politicians a good chance to show strength — and for the two months that we’ve had a state of emergency in place they have tried to do just that.“

In 2010, France’s Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament published the results of tests of breast implants produced by the French company PIP and banned their use, due to an increasing number of reports of incidents related to impaired implant integrity and subsequent health-related complications.

CMS has advised Korea's Solarian Holdings Ltd. on the acquisition of a 5 MW photovoltaic power plant in Bulgaria from FEC Perun.

“The government acted well and fast in response to the crisis,“ says Viktor Tokushev, Managing Partner of Tokushev & Partners in Sofia. “The problem is, however, that the majority of the measures it enacted focus mainly on healthcare and the safety of the population, with other sectors lagging behind.“ In addition, he says, while many economic measures have been announced, not many have been actually implemented.

Over the last few weeks, the search for effective measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 has been the number one priority of affected countries. So far, there is no unified approach. A noteworthy trend is the increased awareness of the potential of data, which is sometimes even referred to as the "new oil". This potential is more than ever being used for key decision-making, e.g. in the development of medicines or vaccines, when assessing whether anti-epidemic measures are effective, in which countries travel restrictions should be imposed, in which public places access should be restricted, etc.

CMS Sofia has advised Korean investors KOSEP and SDN on additional EUR 10 million financing obtained from UniCredit Bulbank AD, Expressbank AD, and DSK Bank EAD for two 42 MWp photovoltaic projects in Bulgaria. CMS Vienna advised the lenders on the financing.

Georgiev, Todorov & Co has successfully defended the rights of concessionaire BMF Port Burgas – Burgas East 2 and Burgas West port terminals – in an administrative proceeding appealing against the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission’s decision under Art. 22 of Bulgaria's Energy Act in a dispute concerning direct connection to electricity grids.

In The Corner Office feature of CEE Legal Matters we ask Managing Partners at leading law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. In light of current events, the question for this online occurrence of the feature is: "What have been the top three most often asked COVID-19 related questions that you have gotten from clients in the last month?”