CMS advises Balkan Retail N.V. on acquisition of Galleria Burgas
CMS has advised Balkan Retail N.V., a subsidiary of the JSE- and A2X-listed specialised retail real estate investment trust Hyprop Investments Limited, on its acquisition of Galleria Burgas from MAS Property Holding S.R.L., a subsidiary of MAS PLC.
The transaction, which was completed on 31 July 2026, was valued at EUR 122.2m and was structured as a share acquisition of the target company. The acquisition also involved the assumption of approximately EUR 73.3m of the target's senior debt.
Located on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, Galleria Burgas is a premier shopping centre comprising approximately 36,700 sq m and home to more than 100 stores.
The transaction marks the first acquisition of a shopping centre in Bulgaria by a foreign institutional investor in recent years.
CMS advised Balkan Retail on all legal aspects of the transaction. The firm provided corporate and competition advice on the acquisition of 100% of Galleria Burgas AD, including on the transaction structure and the notification of the acquisition to the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition.
CMS also provided real estate advice and conducted legal due diligence on the target company and the underlying property. The due diligence review covered the target's corporate title, the status of the property and any encumbrances or easements affecting it, material project agreements, the lease portfolio, including anchor tenant leases, as well as financing and security arrangements affecting the property.
The CMS team was led by Atanas Bangachev and Jenia Dimitrova and included Katya Todorova, Yavor Danailov, and Maria Stefanova, Maria Nikolova, Emil Karasanov and Vilyana Harvatova and Anna-Maria Spassova.
