News Corp and Lidl Hire Borislav Boyanov & Co

Sofia law firm Borislav Boyanov & Co has picked up two major cross-border mandates involving the purchase of Bulgarian assets by international companies.

The first deal saw Czech Republic-based TV company Central European Media Enterprises (CME) agree to purchase Bulgarian counterpart bTV as well as a 74% stake in Radio Company. The businesses are being sold by US media giant News Corporation for a cash consideration of $400m (€293.9m).

The total consideration will be paid on a cash-free and debt-free basis. The deal, which required clearance from the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010.

Borislav Boyanov worked alongside Allen & Overy for News Corp on the deal. Partners Peter Petrov and Don McGown led the respective teams for the Bulgarian and UK firms. Dewey & LeBoeuf (Jeffrey Potash) was counsel to CME.

The second mandate saw German discount food chain Lidl acquire the Bulgarian and Romanian branches of regional supermarket Plus. The deal covers 119 in shops in Romania and 20 in Bulgaria, although the total value is not confirmed. The seller is the Tengelmann Group.

Borislav Boyanov (Raina Dimitrova) worked for Lidl alongside Noerr, which acted as German counsel (Gerald Reger) and Romanian counsel (Joerg Menzer).