The number of places in nurseries in Bulgaria increased by 3.6% last year compared to 2024, which means 1,212 more places, reports the National Statistical Institute (NSI). The data also includes private nurseries in Bulgaria. At the end of 2025, there were 872 independent nurseries and nurseries groups as part of kindergartens (DG) in the country with a total of 34,692 places in them. In cities, there were 763 nurseries with 32,424 places, and in villages - 109 with 2,268 places. On an annual basis, places in nurseries in cities increased by 3.7%, and those in villages by 2.7%. As of December 31, the provision of places in the country as a whole was 21.4%, with the highest in the districts of Pleven - 27.7%, and in Blagoevgrad and Sofia (capital) - 26.2% each. By the end of last year, 31,098 children were raised and educated in nurseries, of which 16,142 were boys and 14,956 were girls. Compared to a year earlier, the number of children in nurseries increased by 731, or 2.4%. The coverage of children raised in nurseries on average for the country is 19.2%. The highest indicator is for the districts of Sofia (capital) – 25.6%, Gabrovo – 23.4, Pleven - 23%, and Ruse - 22%.

Two weeks before the expiration of the long-term power purchase agreement and a day after the information about mass layoffs of employees at the AES Galabovo TPP, the company that owns the most modern coal-fired power plant in Bulgaria officially announced that it would stop operating after May 8. The TPP will be placed "in conservation mode, which will be maintained by a limited number of employees" in order to "preserve the possibilities for future operation". "Mini Maritsa - East", whose coal the AES Galabovo TPP uses, have also been notified, and the contract with them also expires at the beginning of next month. Commissioned in 2011, the plant has two units with a total capacity of 670 megawatts, which use local raw materials. It is among the most important in our energy system with production in 2025 in the amount of 2,618,000 MWh, i.e. 7% of the entire consumption in the country. The AES Galabovo TPP currently sells its electricity at a price that includes an investment component that guarantees the profitability of the investment in the new capacity, which is estimated at 1.3 billion euros. After May 8, the plant will have to enter the free market. The conservation of the AES Galabovo TPP will continue until a decision is made about its future.

An official ceremony was held to open the Sliven Industrial Park, marking the successful completion of the project for the construction of supply and internal technical infrastructure on the territory of the park. The project was implemented with the financial support of the European Union through the NextGenerationEU instrument, within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The total investment value amounts to 23,797,111.88 leva (12,167,270.10 euros). Three main investment projects have been implemented within the project. Supply infrastructure has been built, including electricity supply, water supply, telecommunications, gas supply, sewage collector and road connectivity for the entire territory of the park. The construction of the internal infrastructure in the "North" zone has also been carried out, providing access to all communications for the individual plots, as well as a street network and lighting. The project is being implemented by "Industrial Park Sliven" EOOD in partnership with the Municipality of Sliven. The contractors of the construction and installation works are the Company under the Obligations and Contracts Act, "Hidrovodstroy" and "VDH" AD.

A new wind farm worth over 100 million euros will be built in Bulgaria, nearly 15 years after the first wave of such projects was completed. It will be located near Balchik and, with its 70 MW, will add about 10% to the currently available wind capacity in the country. The Strazhitsa wind farm is owned by Alexander Shterev's Tessa Green Energy, which two years ago sold another of its wind projects to United Group. Since the beginning of this year, Trinity Investment, owned by Dimitar Manolev, father of former Deputy Minister of Economy Alexander Manolev, who is now the company's co-manager, has been a partner with 50% of the shares. The project will be equipped with one of Vestas' latest technologies. Construction is already underway, and the plant is expected to start operating by the end of next year. Two or three more similar wind projects are also expected to come online in 2027. Over the past 6-7 years, over 3,000 MW of photovoltaics and not a single wind turbine have been installed. The project already has all the necessary permits, and since October 2025 it has a license from the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission for the production of electricity. The Strazhitsa wind farm, named after the village next to which it is located, will have a total installed capacity of 70 MW and an expected annual production of over 220 GWh of electricity. Recently, Tessa Green Energy signed a contract with one of the world's largest manufacturers - Vestas, for the supply of 11 wind turbines of 6.4 MW each, as well as for long-term service. This is one of Vestas' latest technologies and the first such project to be implemented in Bulgaria. The deliveries of the turbines are planned to begin in the first quarter of 2027, and the park will enter commercial operation in the last quarter of the year. The wind farm will be built with a combination of own and loan financing, with an 86 million euro loan already secured from the Eurobank Bulgaria group (Postal Bank), Eurobank Private Bank Luxembourg and the Greek Eurobank, which is guaranteed by a pledge of the commercial enterprise. The loan repayment term is up to 15 years, and the interest rate is equal to Euribor plus a surcharge of up to 2.95% per annum. The financial consultant of Tessa Green Energy on the project is xFigure Finance, but its services also cover other areas, as it actually coordinated the parties in the process, including the negotiations with the turbine supplier. A number of other participants are also behind the large-scale deal. Long Man Holding is a technical consultant to the creditors on the financial and legal analysis (due diligence), and DMT Prime is an independent technical consultant to Tessa Green Energy. The legal aspects are taken over by Boyanov & Co for the creditors and Ilieva, Vucheva & Co for the borrower. Marsh advised on the insurance requirements, and Forvis Mazars performed an independent audit of the financial model. Tessa Green Energy was registered in 2020 as a sole proprietorship of Alexander Shterev, who has experience in developing wind farms. Two years ago, he sold another of his projects in the region - Kremena-Trigortsi - to United Group, the owner of Vivacom and Nova Broadcasting. This was done through a deal for the Tessa Energy company, from which Tessa Green Energy, Tessa Eco Energy and Tessa AS were previously separated. Shterev is also a partner of Krasimir Gergov in Tessa Wind Golf Club, where they each hold 50%. At the end of last year, Dimitar Manolev's Trinity Investment entered Tessa Green Energy as a partner, acquiring 25% from Shterev. A little later - in January 2026, the company's capital was increased to 1.15 million euros with a 383.4 thousand euro contribution from the new partner, bringing his share to 50%. Dimitar Manolev's name entered the public domain a few years ago, when, through another of his companies - "Trinity Industries", he bought the arms dealer "Bulgarian Industrial Engineering and Management", previously owned by Petar Mandzhukov.

Quillon, an AI platform for technical accountants founded by three Bulgarian engineers, has announced its rebranding from Acclara AI and the closing of a $1.5 million pre-seed round. The round was led by Munich-based venture capital fund 42CAP, with angel participation from NVIDIA and Roblox. Quillon is being developed in Sofia and sold in the US, where it is already used by over 500 accountants in large healthcare companies, publicly traded companies, auditors and consulting boutiques. Quillon is built on a proprietary knowledge graph of accounting standards, which allows it to construct decision trees for any accounting question — from the standard, to the criteria, to the conclusion. Quillon starts with technical accounting notes, which underlie almost every accounting decision made by a public company. Financial reporting — the quarterly and annual disclosures that public companies file with the SEC — is the natural next frontier. Quillon was founded in 2023 by Nikolay Dakov, Ivaylo Stefanov, and Atanas Dobrev — three engineers who left Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and a Swiss hedge fund to start the company. The funding from the round will be used to expand the engineering and go-to-market teams, as well as to fully transition Quillon from a research product to one that produces final results and does real work.

Atanas Bostandzhiev will be the new majority owner of PFC Levski. Bostandzhiev is the founder and manager of the investment company Gemcorp. Nasko Sirakov, who managed the company for nearly six years, remains as president, but will no longer be a shareholder. In recent months, a team of representatives of the club and the investor has been working on a common vision for the development of PFC Levski. One of the main priorities in this vision is the project for a new stadium "Georgi Asparuhov", worth in the range of 110-130 million euros. The new owner is committed to investing in the sports and technical development of the first team and in the expansion and improvement of the infrastructure related to the development of children's and youth football, and other key areas for the club. Atanas Bostandzhiev became better known in Bulgaria when, in the spring of 2022, as the manager of the Gemcorp fund (created by him), together with partners from the American IP3 fund, he signed a memorandum with the then Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov for cooperation in the field of energy with promised potential investments of $ 1 billion. As of spring 2022, the company manages over $ 1 billion in direct investments of the fund and separately about another $ 1 billion jointly with other funds. Bostandzhiev also participated as a representative of the Russian bank VTB in the privatization of Bulgartabac. He also worked in Bulgaria on the deal with which VTB obtained a stake in BTC. Before founding Gemcorp, Atanas Bostandzhiev was CEO of VTB Capital UK, and before that - a partner at Goldman Sachs in London, where he was responsible for the joint management of the business with emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in Frankfurt in 1998, and holds a bachelor's degree in politics, banking and finance from George Washington College. "Professional Football Club Levski" for 2024 declared a net profit of over 7.5 million euros, or an increase of over 500% compared to the previous year. In 2022, "Levski" declared a loss on an annual basis. Revenues for 2024 exceed 21 million euros - double the previous year. About 50% of the proceeds this year are from the sale of football players. In 2024, "Levski" founded the subsidiary "Georgi Asparuhov Stadium". Later that year, the state transferred ownership of the land on which the stadium was built to the Sofia Municipality. It is not yet clear on what principle the team will use the stadium from the club - whether the land will be leased through a concession or whether the land will be donated (as happened with the Bulgarian Army Stadium).

The Board of Directors of Port Flot-Burgas AD proposes that the amount of BGN 97,791.50 / EUR 50,000 from the company's net profit realized in 2025, which amounts to BGN 3,253,248.11, be distributed as a cash dividend. This means BGN 0.0098 / EUR 0.005 gross amount per share or BGN 0.0093 / EUR 0.0048 net dividend (after deduction of dividend tax for individual investors). The decision will be voted on by the general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for May 26 in Burgas. The remaining part of the profit for 2025, in the amount of BGN 3,155,456.61, will be accounted for in the "retained earnings" fund. "Port Flot - Burgas" offers auxiliary transport services, such as towing, towing of floating vehicles, maneuvering in ports and others in the area of ​​the port of Burgas. State Enterprise "Port Infrastructure" (SPI), port of Burgas. "Port Flot - Burgas" paid a dividend to its shareholders from the net profit for 2024 - a total of 100,000 leva or 0.01 leva gross amount per share. For 2023, everyone received 0.04 leva for one of their shares.

At its meeting of 23.04.2026, the FSC decided: 4. Terminates proceedings in connection with the approval of two members of the board of directors and executive directors of "BARENZ INSURANCE" EAD. 5. Sends a letter to "EUROINS INSURANCE COMPANY" AD, informing the company that at present there are no legal obstacles to the transfer of a key actuarial function to an external contractor. 6. Sends notifications to the competent authorities of all EU member states regarding changes in the notification of investment intermediary "Ever Financial" AD, in connection with the activities carried out by it under the conditions of the free provision of investment services, without establishing a branch. 7. Exempts for 2026 Electrohold Trade EAD and Cargill Bulgaria EOOD from the obligation to be licensed as investment intermediaries in connection with the companies' trading in commodity derivatives or emission allowances or their derivatives (within the meaning of Art. 5 of the MFIA). 8. Sends a letter to 28 Arekh OOD requesting additional information and documents in connection with the issuance of a permit to operate as a crypto-asset service provider.

The procedure for the public offering of convertible bonds of Boleron AD begins. The company will offer 4,950 convertible, dematerialized and freely transferable bonds with a nominal and issue value of EUR 1,000 each. Boleron is seeking up to EUR 4.95 million from potential bondholders. The offering will be considered successful if at least 4,000 bonds are subscribed and paid for, i.e. EUR 4 million is raised. The bonds have a fixed coupon of 8%, payable once a year. The bonds mature on the second anniversary after their issuance. At maturity, each bondholder has the right to request a full conversion of all bonds held by him. In the event that a bondholder does not request a conversion, the principal of all bonds held by him will be paid in full. Each bond entitles its holder to exchange it for 495 shares from the company's capital increase, which will be carried out on the maturity date of the bond issue. Only the bondholders have the right to participate in the company's capital increase on the conversion date, and this right cannot be transferred to third parties. Bondholders who hold more than 80% of the convertible bonds have the right to request the appointment or extension of the mandate for a period of 5 years as a member of the board of directors of Boleron of a person nominated by them as a condition for the conversion of the bonds into shares. This right should be exercised no later than 3 months before the maturity of the issue by sending a written notification to the company.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, which manages $2.2 trillion in assets, reported a loss of 636 billion Norwegian kroner ($68.44 billion) in the first quarter as the war in the Middle East weighed on global stock markets, Reuters reported. The fund is managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), an asset management arm of the Norwegian central bank, on behalf of Norwegian citizens, which holds about half of its assets in the United States. The unit posted a negative return of 1.9 percent in the first quarter of the year. The fund's equity investments returned a negative 2.6 percent, while fixed income fell 0.2 percent, private real estate companies rose 1.2 percent, and private renewable energy infrastructure companies fell 1.9 percent, the statement said. The fund, which holds stakes in more than 7,000 companies worldwide, held the largest holdings in Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft at the start of 2026. Last year, the fund reported a first-quarter loss of 415 billion kronor as weaker tech stocks weighed on returns, highlighting how even a diversified portfolio can be affected by fluctuations in large-cap stocks.

The United States exported a total of nearly 494 billion cubic feet (14 billion cubic meters) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in February, a 21 percent increase from the same month a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s monthly report. Europe was once again the top destination for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports, accounting for an impressive 72 percent of all exports in the month. The liquefied natural gas exports in February were shipped on 154 LNG tankers. During the month, the main destinations for US liquefied gas deliveries were: Great Britain (60.4 billion cubic feet or 1.7 billion cubic meters), the Netherlands (56.8 billion cubic feet or 1.6 billion cubic meters), Egypt (46.4 billion cubic feet or 1.3 billion cubic meters), Germany (35.5 billion cubic feet or 1 billion cubic meters) and Turkey (34.3 billion cubic feet or 1 billion cubic meters). These countries accounted for almost 48% of all US liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries in February. The share of deliveries to Asia in total US LNG exports in February increased to 14.5%, compared to 7% in January. The remaining liquefied gas volumes (about 10%) went to countries in Latin America and Africa. In February - for the first time in half a year - the United States exported a small batch of LNG to China.

Japan's exports in March increased by 11.7% compared to the same month last year, reaching a record 11.003 trillion yen ($69 billion), the country's Ministry of Finance reported. Analysts had previously expected an average of a less significant increase of 11%, Trading Economics writes. This is the seventh consecutive month of growth in the country's exports, with February's increase being 4% year-on-year. Japanese exports to China in March rose by 17.7% year-on-year, to ASEAN countries the increase was 19.7%, to the European Union - 18.2%, to India - 8.5%, and to the United States - 3.4%. Japan's imports in March increased by 10.9% year-on-year to 10.336 trillion yen, which is the highest level since January 2025. Experts had forecast a 7.1% increase. Japan's imports from China in March rose 8.8% year-on-year, from the US by 17.7%, from ASEAN by 10.6%, from the EU by 16.7%, and from India by 32%. Japan's positive foreign trade balance in March was 667 billion yen, compared with 529.8 billion yen in the same month a year earlier. In February, a positive balance of 44.3 billion yen was recorded.