The French-German consortium SOF Connect composed of Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments SAS and the Munish airport operator, Flughafen München, has been selected as the preferred bidder for the concession of Sofia Airport in Bulgaria. 

SOF Connect has placed first in the tender launched Bulgarian Ministry of Transport garnering 86.12 points. The winning team is followed by a consortium between France's Aeroports de Paris and Turkey's TAV Havalimanlari Holding as second with 80.31 points, Fraport Bulgaria third with 80.19 points, Vitosha Consortium comes fourth with 78.42 points, and UBB Consortium Sofia Airport JV coming last with 66.15 points. 

SOF Connect has offered a concession fee of EUR24.5 million (US$27.5 million) per year or about 32% of the annual revenue; the French-Turkish consortium offered the highest concession fee of about EUR32.82 million (US$36.9 million); the UBB Consortium Sofia Airport JV has offered EUR26.5 million (US$29.8 million); the Fraport Bulgaria EAD offered EUR21 million (US$23.6 million); while Vitosha Consortium presented a nearly EUR20 million (US$22.5 million) concession offer. 

From the five bidders, SOF Connect, Fraport Bulgaria and Vitoshsa Consortium have received the maximum 100 points for their technical proposals. The financial aspect of the proposal weighs 55% while the technical proposal is considered at 45% of the total concession proposal.  The decision of the concession commission can be appealed within 10 days after the announcement of the winner and the concession contract can be signed in 15 days time. 

In case an appeal is being made, the competition regulator and the Supreme Administrative Court will hear the dispute. The court will render the final decision for the appeal and will be made within a month from the decision of the competition regulator. 

SOF Connect will run the Sofia Airport for a 35-year concession. The consortium will develop and maintain the airport infrastructure. In the ten-year period, SOF Connect will build a new passenger terminal and a new runway for the airport. 

The concession procedure was assisted by the World Bank in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.