INFORMATION ON THE HOLDING COMPANIES IN BULGARIA

The holding companies in Bulgaria are regulated by the Commercial Law there is not any special tax regulation on this matter.(general tax rules are applied to the holding companies as well).

INFORMATION ON COMPETITION RULES IN BULGARIA

According to the Bulgarian Competition Law there is a prohibition on abuse of monopoly status of a company involved in commercial activities in the country. The monopole status of a company or enterprise is described as the exclusive right of that company or enterprise to deal in a definite industrial and/or commercial activity in the country. The Bulgarian Competition Law introduces one more term – dominate position on the market, which means that the company or enterprise holds more 35 % of the market.

Competition restrictions on assets transfers

Conditions under which the absolute rights of the holder of an asset to freely dispose of and benefit from it may be derogated from the rules of the competition.

The Bulgarian competition legislation is contained in the Protection of Competition Act (“PCA”).

Bulgarian Takeover Rules

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide a brief outline of the Bulgarian legal provisions applicable to acquisitions of interests in public companies ("PC") and investment companies ("IC").