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Following a competition, a new Board of Directors of the State Committee of the State Committee of the Regions is elected

Following a competition, a new Board of Directors of the State Committee of the State Committee of the Regions is elected

Following an organised and conducted competition for management and control bodies, a new expert management team has been selected in the State Consolidation Company (SCC) in accordance with the Public Enterprises Act and its Implementing Rules. The new Board of Directors of SCC is officially registered in the Commercial Register as of today and includes: Konstantin Stoychev – Executive Director, and members – Teodora Stoyanova, Elena Boltadzhieva, Desislava Chalamova and Assen Nenchev.

It should be recalled that the previous management of SCC was appointed temporarily by the Minister of Economy and Industry Bogdan Bogdanov in August 2023 with a clear horizon and objectives of work of 6 months, during which a transparent competition had to be organized so that people with expertise could enter SCC, as well as to achieve cost optimization and more efficient management of public enterprises.

A number of breaches were then identified – the company had been in systematic non-compliance with the Public Enterprises Act, including missing financial statements for 2021 and 2022, and a large number of SCC companies did not have approved business programmes. In order to realise the potential of these enterprises, new business programmes with clear objectives, control mechanisms and priorities have been updated and established over the past months.

Following the changes in the Group’s structure, the number of board members in the companies was also reduced. By a decision of Minister Bogdanov, as of 1 October 2023, in accordance with the possibility provided for in the law (Article 56, paragraph 13) of the PPZPP), the remuneration of the members of the management and control bodies of public enterprises whose principal is the Ministry of Economy and Industry was also reduced. Representation expenses have also been significantly limited – to BGN 5,000 per year, and only executive directors have the opportunity to use them, not board members, as in previous years.

‘We continue to work for the effective management, transparent spending and future development of the state-owned enterprises of the State Consolidation Commission,’ Minister Bogdanov said.

At the beginning of this year, the Minister of Economy announced that a restructuring of the SCC is also in the pipeline, which will undergo an in-depth analysis and will be widely discussed. In his words, a comprehensive transformation programme is being developed, which will be presented and discussed with experts, representatives of various parliamentary groups and within the economic committee in the National Assembly. According to Minister Bogdanov, the important thing is to pass this process in an open dialogue and to guarantee the jobs of the 5500 people employed in the companies.

It should be recalled that in the past months, the Minister of Economy and Industry has taken all the necessary actions under the law to recover resources to the SCC, which were prepaid without procurement, without transparency for unrealized and inefficient projects. The first BGN 45 million of the unrealised government complex has already been reimbursed to the state and at the beginning of this year the loan of the State Consolidation Company to the Bulgarian Development Bank, amounting to BGN 126.4 million, was fully repaid. The loan obligation was accrued between 2018 and 2020 and a significant portion of the state-owned enterprises to the SCC were pledged as collateral thereon. This was putting at risk the development of strategic assets for the state, such as LB Bulgaricum EAD, Kintex EAD, Niti EAD and other companies under the umbrella of the State Consolidation Company As of the beginning of this month, all pledges made in past years on the shares of these companies have already been deleted. In this way, they will now be able to develop and pay a dividend to the budget instead of continuing to pay interest on the loan.

‘Our next steps are related to the future of these enterprises,’ Bogdanov stressed. According to him, the repayment of the entire amount of the loan saves significant funds that have been spent so far and which will be invested in the sustainable development of enterprises in the future.

Mr. Konstantin Stoychev holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Strategic Management and Management Consulting from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA and a Master’s degree in International Economic Relations from the University of National and World Economy. He has extensive experience in finance, business strategy and analysis, and management consulting. He is an Education Advisor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Board of the Bulgarian Association of Masters of Business Administration.

Ms. Teodora Stoyanova holds a Master’s degree in Law from Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’. She has over 25 years of proven experience in investment regimes, commercial law, project finance, joint ventures and foreign investment law. She has worked in cooperation with international companies and institutions, including the World Bank, EBRD and EIB. She has been a consultant and legal advisor to some of the largest foreign investors in Bulgaria. Ms. Stoyanova has participated in the development of a number of laws and regulations in the field of regulatory, legal and financial infrastructure and improving the climate for foreign investment in Bulgaria.

Ms. Elena Boltadzhieva graduated from the University of National and World Economy, where she obtained a Master’s degree in Law. She has expertise in Bulgarian legislation and has over 20 years of management experience in administrative processes in a number of state institutions. Over the years, Ms. Elena Boltadzhieva has held senior positions in institutions such as the Court of Auditors, the State Commission for Commodity Exchanges and Auctions, the Ministry of Justice, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Ministry of Health and the Secretary General at the Ministry of Innovation and Growth.

Ms. Desislava Chalamova is a Mechanical Engineer in Complex Mechanization in Construction from the Technical University of Sofia and a Master Engineer in Environment and Sustainable Development from the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy in Sofia. She holds postgraduate qualifications from the Mining and Geology, Sofia and American Universities. Eng. Chalamova has 30 years of experience in entrepreneurship, trade and investment, in industry, energy and environment, working with strategic Bulgarian and foreign industrial operators and investors.

Mr. Assen Nenchev holds a BA in Economics and Business with East European Studies from University College London and an MSc in Management from Imperial College London. He has extensive experience in finance and financial operations and analysis, auditing large companies and strategic planning. As Executive Director of Sofia Tech Park, he was responsible for the management and development of the park with research and development activities. Over the years, Mr. Nenchev has held senior positions in both private and public sector entities.

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