Greek bank makes Bulgaria exit
The sale of Alpha Bank's remaining property portfolio in Bulgaria concluded with a package deal involving three plots and two houses in Sofia. The Greek bank had been gradually selling off assets, mainly acquired from debtors, since its local operations were bought by Postbank (part of Eurobank) in 2015. With high interest in individual properties from private buyers, Atland Investments, a distressed asset management firm, stepped in to acquire the remaining portfolio that hadn't been sold separately.
The buyer, "Atex Properties," is a joint venture between Atland Investments and Kefer, owned by Nikolay Neshev, who also runs CrediLink, a non-bank mortgage lender. The deal, which took over two years to finalize, was completed in stages and is estimated to be worth just over 30 million levs.
Weapons repair plant up in arms
Employees at the military plant Terem-Khan Krum in Targovishte will begin indefinite protests starting March 27. The protests are driven by delays in salary payments for January and February 2025 and frustration over the lack of a clear strategy for the factory's future, managed by Terem-Holding EAD under the Ministry of Defense.
They plan to block traffic at the intersection of the Sofia-Varna main road near the city every day from 10am to 11am. The plant, employing around 150 people, is the only facility in Bulgaria specializing in the repair and maintenance of tanks and armored vehicles.
Could the sword party be reformed?
The dissolution of the MECH parliamentary group by Speaker Natalia Kiselova may be overturned as early as Wednesday, legal experts suggest, due to a lack of constitutional and procedural grounds.
The official reason for the termination of the parliamentary group was that MECH fell below 10 members, which is the minimal requirement. Technically, however, the group has 11 deputies, not 9, after a recent Central Election Commission (CEC) decision added two new members, although they had not yet taken their parliamentary oath. Experts argue that neither the constitution nor parliamentary rules specify a deadline for oath-taking, and the four-year term for MPs starts from the election's official announcement, not from the oath ceremony.
Kiselova's order, issued early on March 21, followed the CEC's March 20 ruling, raising questions about whether her action adhered to procedural requirements, as no conditions for group dissolution had formally been met.
Greek bank makes Bulgaria exit
The sale of Alpha Bank's remaining property portfolio in Bulgaria concluded with a package deal involving three plots and two houses in Sofia. The Greek bank had been gradually selling off assets, mainly acquired from debtors, since its local operations were bought by Postbank (part of Eurobank) in 2015. With high interest in individual properties from private buyers, Atland Investments, a distressed asset management firm, stepped in to acquire the remaining portfolio that hadn't been sold separately.
