The European Commission announced that it has referred the assessment of the acquisition of Plus Bulgaria by the German retailer Lidl to the competition authority of Bulgaria, at its request. After a preliminary investigation, the European Commission found that the proposed transaction would affect competition in the Bulgarian local market for daily consumer goods. It believes that the Bulgarian competition authority is well-placed to investigate the effect of the transaction on its local market under national law.
Plus Bulgaria is a daily consumer goods retailer. Lidl is buying them from German retail group Tengelmann. Lidl itself is a German discount chain that belongs to the Schwarz group, a German retailer operating more than 9,000 stores in 23 countries in Europe, including in Bulgaria.
Borislav Boyanov & Co. represents Lidl in Bulgaria in respect of the transaction.