The Bulgarian Competition Authority finds that a call option and certain minority shareholder protection rights do not confer control (Novator / Bulgarian Telecommunication Company)

The Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition (the “CPC”) held that a call option for purchase of a majority stake in a target company, as well as certain minority shareholder protection rights, conferred no control in the competition law meaning of the notion and, thus, did not lead to a concentration. The grounds for such conclusions were that the call option and the rights in