Investment Strategies Applied During the Mass Privatisation Wave in Central and Eastern Europe: The Case of Bulgaria

The aim of this paper is to look at the results from the mass privatisation in Bulgaria as one of the basic pillars of structural reform. A database from the first wave of the mass privatisation was used for the secondary analysis of the investment strategies of the Bulgarian privatisation funds. We grouped the 82 Privatisation Funds registered in Bulgaria in 4 groups according to their invested capital: Large Funds, Medium, Small and Micro Funds, and we analysed their investment strategies, employed during the three auctions for mass privatisation. Particular attention was paid on the analysis of their industrial and locational participation, along with their interest in firms of different size and varying control opportunities. A typology of privatised firms by size, main shareholders, market share and industries reveals a complex picture of restructuring of ownership and industrial linkages. Special attention is placed on the analysis of the use of specific financial instruments, such as privatisation bonds. Our comparrison of the mass-privatisation programmes in Poland, the Czeck Republic, Russia and Bulgaria reveils similarities and unique features in each country.