According to Ilko Stoyanov, Partner at Schoenherr in Bulgaria, although his country has a very small legal market, which means that it is difficult to identify trends and to forecast the future, non-performing loans, the GDPR, and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence are topics that will definitely keep lawyers wired throughout 2018.

Aleksander Aleksandrov has joined Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski to head the firm's energy practice.

CMS has advised Hugo Pfohe GmbH on the legal aspects of a competitive tender to sell Bulgaria's Moto-Pfohe Group, with Wolf Theiss advising the winning bidder, the Sumitomo Corporation.

CMS has advised the investors of Acwa Power CF Karad PV Park EAD — a joint venture of Acwa Power, Blackstone, and the Clean Energy Transition Fund (which itself includes the EBRD and the European Investment Bank, among others, as partners) which owns one of the largest photovoltaic power plants in Bulgaria — on the restructuring of its debt. Allen & Overy (as international legal counsel) and Spasov & Bratanov (as Bulgarian legal counsel) advised lenders IFC, OPIC, Unicredit London, and Unicredit Bulbank on the matter.

Kocian Solc Balastik has advised Energo-Pro on matters of Czech law related to its December 8, 2017, EUR 370 million debut Eurobond issue in London. Energo-Pro was advised as to English law by lead counsel Herbert Smith Freehills, as to Bulgarian law by Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski, and to Georgian law by the BLC Law Office. The Joint Bookrunners (Citigroup Global Markets Limited and J.P. Morgan Securities plc) and Joint Lead Managers (Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, as well as Banca IMI S.p.A, Komercni banka, a.s., and UniCredit Bank AG), and Trustee (Citibank, N.A London Branch) were advised by Allen & Overy on Czech and English law and by Spasov & Bratanov on matters of Bulgarian law.

Penkov, Markov & Partners, working alongside Weil, Gotshal & Manges, has advised CEZ on the sale of Bulgaria's hard coal-fired thermal power plant in Varna to Bulgarian company SIGDA OOD.

On Thursday, November 30th, leading legal practitioners from across Central and Eastern Europe gathered in Prague to help CEE Legal Matters celebrate its fourth successful year as the leading chronicle of the legal industry in the region, participating in an expert Round Table conversation about the year just concluded and enjoying an evening of dinner, drinks, and bonhomie. 

DGKV has advised Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria EAD on the structuring and launching of a EUR 180.5 million public procurement procedure to select financial intermediaries for the Urban Development Fund under the Operational Program "Regions in Growth 2014-2020," which is co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds. 

The burden of costs in litigation has always been of great importance to people and companies deciding whether to bring a civil action. 

CMS has announced that senior energy lawyer Angel Bangachev has rejoined the firm from Tsvetkova Bebov & Partners and will lead CMS's Public Procurement Practice in Bulgaria.

On November 1, 2017, Lilyana Pavlova, the Minister in charge of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council and Boyanov & Co. Managing Partner Borislav Boyanov, the President of the Association of the Honorary Consuls in Bulgaria and Honorary Consul of Malta, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for the forthcoming Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union. 

Boyanov & Co. had supported the UK-listed company BSP PLC on its acquisition of a historic building at the corner of Rakovski Str. and Ivan Vazov Str. in the heart of Sofia.

The commercial legal markets of Central & Eastern Europe didn’t appear automatically. They didn’t develop in a vacuum. They were formed, shaped, and led, by lawyers – visionary, hard-working, commercially-minded, and client-focused individuals pulling the development of CEE’s legal markets along behind them as they labored relentlessly for their clients, their careers, their futures. 

Hristov & Partners has promoted Biliana Shagova to Partner.

DGKV has acted as local counsel to the Export-Import Bank of China with regard to a EUR 50 million loan facility extended to the Bulgarian Development Bank for on-lending to customers in the form of mid or short-term trade financing transactions.

DGKV has advised Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria EAD on the structuring and launching of a EUR 100 million public procurement procedure to select financial intermediaries for equity and quasi-equity investments in Bulgarian seed and start-up companies.

CMS has successfully defended renewable energy client Astronergy (part of the Chinese energy group Chint) against a commercial claim brought by a former developer over the acquisition of the photovoltaic plant Cherveniakovo-4MWp in Bulgaria.

DGKV’s real estate team has advised NEPI Rockcastle on the September 21, 2017 acquisition by its subsidiary NEPI Project Two EOOD of Bulfeld EOOD — the owner of the Paradise Center shopping center in Sofia — from Bul Dom OOD. Penkov, Markov & Partners advised the sellers on the deal, which remains subject to approval of the Bulgarian competition watchdog.