Kambourov & Partners

Kambourov & Partners is a leading Bulgarian full-service law firm with over 37 years of experience.

Founded in 1988, we have grown into a comprehensive legal advisor across all major business sectors. We specialise in helping clients navigate the complexities of Bulgarian law, particularly in cross-border transactions and projects, where we provide clear, practical advice tailored to the local legal environment.

With 17 fully integrated practice groups, we cover Corporate & M&A, Banking & Finance, Tax, Energy, Technology, Real Estate, Competition, IP, Employment, and more.

Our team has deep expertise in sectors critical to the Bulgarian economy, including energy, infrastructure, telecoms, and finance. We regularly advise multinational companies and investors on the local aspects of their cross-border deals and operations.

Areas of practice and industry sectors: Learn more on www.kambourov.biz

Key Practice Areas:

Banking & Finance

The department specialises in banking, finance, and securities law, with a focus on complex cross-border transactions. The team advises on syndicated lending, structured finance, and public and private bond placements. It also handles financial collateral and netting arrangements, custodian and escrow structures, and the regulation of banking and capital markets.

With extensive cross-border expertise, the department advises global clients, ensuring compliance with international regulatory frameworks. It also supports clients in public takeovers and the enforcement of security agent structures.

In insolvency and restructuring, the team assists major creditors, particularly banks and financial institutions, in high-profile cases in Bulgaria. Services include insolvency proceedings, asset tracing, cross-border restructuring, freezing injunctions, and out-of-court workouts.

The team also advises on white-collar crime, fraud, and asset recovery, especially in financial transactions and insolvency.

The department works regularly with leading Bulgarian banks and international financial institutions and supports clients across sectors such as media, retail, construction, energy, healthcare, and consumer products on complex finance and securities matters.

Corporate and M&A

Kambourov & Partners provides comprehensive corporate and commercial legal support, combining deep sector knowledge with extensive transactional experience. We are a trusted adviser to local and international clients throughout the corporate lifecycle, from incorporation and structuring to M&A, reorganisations, and post-deal integration.

The team is particularly recognised for its work on complex, high-value cross-border mergers and acquisitions. We advise on share and asset deals, demergers, spin-offs, business separations, and group reorganisations involving sophisticated equity and capital structures. Our lawyers provide end-to-end support from structuring and due diligence to the negotiation of key documents, including SPAs, escrow arrangements, financing instruments, and post-closing compliance.

We act for investors, lenders, founders, and multinational groups across a broad range of sectors, including technology, telecoms, manufacturing, financial services, energy, real estate, and consumer goods. The team is known for combining technical precision with commercial insight, delivering legal solutions aligned with strategic business goals, and has played a key role in Bulgaria’s most prominent corporate transactions.

In addition to M&A, we offer support in corporate governance, shareholder relations, board procedures, contract negotiation, capital increases, joint ventures, regulatory approvals, and ongoing compliance, as well as company formation and restructuring.

Competition/Antitrust

The department is recognised for its expertise across the full spectrum of competition law, with a proven track record in abuse of dominance, cartel investigations, litigation, vertical restraints, sector inquiries, dawn raids, market investigations, unfair competition, compliance, and both domestic and cross-border merger control. The team regularly advises on complex competition issues, particularly in M&A and other strategic transactions.

The department has advised clients across key sectors of the Bulgarian and regional economy, including energy, food and beverage, TMT, media, private equity, retail, automotive, aviation, shipping, fashion, insurance, healthcare, and electronics. This experience enables the team to navigate industry-specific challenges in a dynamic regulatory environment.

The team provides strategic advice on compliance and risk management, and represents clients before the Bulgarian Commission on Protection of Competition and national courts. It is particularly active in merger notifications and clearance procedures for domestic and cross-border transactions, with strong litigation and advisory capabilities covering both preventive and post-transactional aspects of competition law.

In recent years, the team has seen growth in media and retail sector work, advising on merger clearance to regulatory disputes. It has also expanded in telecommunications, healthcare, and energy sectors, reflecting broader market trends.

Dispute Resolution

The team handles the full spectrum of business law disputes, including financial services litigation, regulatory disputes, cross-border commercial litigation and arbitration, shareholder and governance conflicts, insurance disputes, public procurement litigation, IP enforcement, and recognition of foreign judgments and arbitral awards.

Recently, the department has represented a diverse range of clients, from multinational corporations to sovereign entities and private individuals. Notable highlights include high-value arbitration and annulment matters with regional implications and ongoing litigation over board liability and copyright claims.

The practice is also trusted in sensitive, precedent-setting matters involving the public interest, representing elderly clients in pro bono cases concerning alleged abuses in Bulgaria’s arbitration and enforcement systems. This area of work reflects the department’s broader commitment beyond commercial mandates.

The department is active in sectors such as banking and finance, commercial disputes, telecommunications, energy, construction, insurance, and sovereign disputes. These mandates often involve regulatory overlays, geopolitical dimensions, or EU/international law components.

The team is distinguished by its arbitration practice, with experience across ICC, UNCITRAL, and domestic fora, advising in English-language proceedings. It also handles award enforcement and annulment mandates before Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation.

Energy

The department has a long-standing track record and is widely renowned among local and international energy market players for its involvement in landmark projects over the past two decades. The team provides integrated advisory and litigation services across all aspects of the energy sector, including:

• EU Green Deal and clean energy transition

• Electricity generation – renewables, conventional, and nuclear

• Smart electricity grids

• Electricity transmission, distribution, supply, and storage

• Electricity trading (including cross-border)

• Natural gas – exploration, extraction, transmission, and distribution

• Mining, fuels, and alternative fuels

• Energy efficiency and electric vehicles

• Regulatory regimes and project finance

• Litigation

The team handles legal, licensing, and tax matters in energy investments, with a focus on renewable energy sources, electricity and gas infrastructure, and alternative fuels. It advises on energy regulatory issues, including licensing, pricing, approvals for M&As, post-acquisition restructurings, financing, and planning for new builds (including nuclear power plants).

The department is actively engaged in advising projects financed under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, aimed at the green transition of the economy. It represents clients before Bulgarian courts, regulatory bodies, and ministries.

The team is deeply involved in renewable energy projects, hydrogen storage facilities, and natural gas market development in Bulgaria.

Employment

The Employment department provides comprehensive legal support to employers, employees, trade unions, and public authorities on all aspects of Bulgarian and EU labour and social security law.

The team advises on a wide range of employment matters, including structuring employment agreements, developing internal policies, implementing remote and hybrid work arrangements, ensuring workplace health and safety compliance, and advising on social security issues such as pensions and maternity compensation.

The team drafts, amends, and terminates labour agreements, monitors compliance with employment and anti-discrimination legislation, and represents clients in employment litigation, including professional injuries, mass dismissals, and contractual disputes. It also provides guidance on anti-discrimination and workplace harassment matters, including drafting internal policies and offering support in disputes under the Protection against Discrimination Act.

The practice advises on employment and immigration matters for non-Bulgarian and non-EU citizens, such as short-term visas, residence permits, and the legal framework for EU citizens working in Bulgaria. The department also supports clients with compliance related to Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of whistleblowers.

The team offers strong capabilities in both advisory and dispute resolution, providing practical legal solutions across all stages of the employment relationship.

Intellectual Property