Dentons, DGKV, Karanovic & Partners, and Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners advised Hungary's Optima Befektesi Alapkezelo on its acquisition of a 61.49% share in Globe Trade Centre S.A. from Lone Star Funds. Schoenherr advised the sellers on the deal.

Contributed by Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski.

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to impact the process, timeline and documentation of M&A transactions in the turbulent times ahead of us. Below are some techniques for parties to protect themselves in the current crisis.

Bozhko Poryazov has left Delchev & Partners to join Popov, Arnaudov and Partners as Senior Associated Partner and Head of Real Estate and Investments.

On January 7, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Tokushev & Partners had helped the Fund of Funds in Bulgaria make arrangements with two financial intermediaries to create several alternative investment funds for equity investments. We asked Lazar Petrov, Director of Financial Instruments and Operational Programmes of the Fund of Funds, to walk us through the set-up of the alternative funds. 

The Moratorium was not self-proclaimed by the Bulgarian Parliament as an overriding mandatory piece of law so the courts discretion in cross-border scenarios has been retained

Healthcare and life sciences have a special status as a type of legal practice. The debate about what this specialisation entails, and to what extent it even qualifies as legal work, is endless. However, as a crisis is also an opportunity, the coronavirus pandemic has defined the areas where law, healthcare and the life sciences overlap.

As everyone in Bulgaria has felt on a number of levels, the country has been in a state of emergency as of 13 March 2020, declared by a decision of the National Assembly. A number of orders from the Minister of Health have introduced and continue to introduce a number of anti-epidemic measures and restrictions. Some of these measures have also already been implemented in the form of a law, being included in the text of the new act on measures and actions during the emergency state, announced by the decision of the National Assembly from 13 March 2020 ("Act").

(Doctors love their children too)

Irena Petkova, Martin Emanuilov, and Ivo Alexandrov have been promoted to Partner at Kambourov & Partners, and Plamen Yotov has been appointed the new head of the firm's EU & Competition practice.

Kinstellar has advised Earlybird Venture Capital on its EUR 3 million seed funding of the Fintech startup Payhawk, the paperless corporate card used for simplifying expenses for businesses.

Kambourov & Partners has advised DEV.bg, a Bulgarian IT community developer, on the EUR 200 thousand acquisition of newly issued shares representing a 10% stake in the company by hosting and software development company SiteGround.

Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski has advised Eleven Capital on its IPO – the first in Bulgaria since 2018. The Karoll investment firm placed the IPO.

Tsvetelina Stoilova-Valkanova has joined Popov, Arnaudov & Partners as Senior Associate Partner and Head of Banking & Finance.

Contributed by Gugushev & Partners, Member of PONTES

D’Ornano Partners Advises Groupama Group on Acquisition of Express Life Bulgaria

D’Ornano Partners has advised the Groupama Group on its acquisition of Express Life Bulgaria IJSC, a member of the OTP Group. Schoenherr advised the OTP Group on the deal.

Kambourov & Partners and Wolf Theiss Advise on DS Smith's Sale of Packaging Business to Liquibox

Kambourov & Partners has advised DS Smith on Bulgarian aspects of the sale of it plastic packaging business to Liquibox. Wolf Theiss reportedly advised Liquidbox on the deal.

Worried about COVID-19? During the outbreak, it is challenging for patients to seek in-person medical care. Self-quarantine is an important tool in managing disease transmission, especially among patients who are vulnerable to the risk of infection. This is where telemedicine becomes essential to ensure that patients have access to medical care and to boost community support. In times of a global public health emergency like the COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare systems should lean on remote medical check-ups, e-prescriptions and postal delivery of medicines in situations of quarantine and to tackle the further spread of the disease. Healthcare systems should expand beyond traditional healthcare tools and leverage existing telehealth tools to direct people to the proper level of healthcare for their medical needs (both to address their medical condition and to screen for COVID-19). Moreover, state administrations should make a historic effort to at least temporarily lift restrictions on telehealth usage (where such exist) to assist in the efforts to reduce patients' exposure to the virus and to ensure public health and safety.