site.btaFuture of International Plovdiv Fair Ownership to Be Resolved in Court

A high-profile case involving a transfer of shares in the International Plovdiv Fair from Varna Municipality to the Paldin Tourinvest joint-stock company will be resolved in court. This transpired Monday when the representative of the Plovdiv Municipality in Paldin Tourinvest voted in favour of the assignment of the shares while at the same time voting to activate the municipal blocking share as per a decision by the Municipal Council.

The majority owner in Paldin Tourinvest is Plovdiv-based businessman Georgi Gergov with Plovdiv Municipality holding a blocking interest. Through the share transfer, Georgi Gergov acquires controlling interest in the International Plovdiv Fair of 79.39%.

So far he owned 50.36% of the shares in the exhibition venue.

Before the Monday general meeting of Paldin Tourinvest, Plovdiv Mayor Zdravko Dimitrov told the news media that he would contest the decision in court, as the Municipal Council mandated him to do.

A court battle

The Shareholders General Meeting followed a November 17 decision by the Supreme Administrative Court, which conclusively voided a Varna Administrative Court judgment that was the only obstacle to the share transfer.

In December 2021, the Plovdiv Regional Governor put the deal on hold. He was acting on instructions of then economy and industry minister Kornelia Ninova, who argued that the transfer would have been tantamount to clandestine privatization.

Further back, in 2017, the Plovdiv Municipal Council resolved on returning the shares in the Fair to the State, but that resolution was never implemented.

Established in 1892, the Plovdiv Fair is Bulgaria's largest.

In the past 12 years, Plovdiv Municipality has not received any dividend from Paldin Tourinvest or the Plovdiv Fair because both companies are making a loss: the first of BGN 106 million and the second BGN 26 million, said Democratic Bulgaria municipal councilor Vesselina Alexandrova. She said that an application is being prepared to give Plovdiv Fair immovable cultural heritage designation.