The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) is investigating an alleged cartel between the companies “Stelit-1” and “Kiltex”, which have participated in nearly 300 public procurement procedures for supplying food products to kindergartens, schools, universities, social care services, homes for elderly people and people with disabilities, as well as municipalities.
As part of proceedings opened by a decision dated 6 July this year, teams from the antitrust authority are carrying out unannounced on-site inspections at the companies’ offices in Sofia and Sevlievo. The inspections are being conducted with authorisation from the Administrative Court of Sofia Region and with the assistance of officers from the Interior Ministry’s Specialised Police Forces Department and the Gabrovo Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry, the CPC said.
The Sevlievo connection
The two companies are registered at different addresses, but the distinction appears to be largely nominal, according to the CPC’s preliminary investigation.
“Stelit-1” is registered in Sevlievo. Its sole owner and manager is Tsvetan Makaev.
Makaev is also a member of the board of directors of “Korekt-de Bulgaria”, one of the two partners in “Stel Bet”. That company’s registered office and management address coincide with those of “Kiltex” in Sofia’s Oborishte district, at 10 Vrabcha Street.
A review by “Za Istinata” of the Sigma system shows that “Kiltex” is among the seven companies receiving the largest public contracts from Sevlievo Municipality. Over the past five and a half years, the total value of its contracts has reached €3.1 million.
“Stelit-1” has won eight public procurement procedures since 2022 for supplying food to Sevlievo’s Home Social Patronage service. In March this year, through a direct negotiation procedure, it also secured an €86,000 contract for the municipality’s “Hot Lunch” project, funded under the European Union’s programme for food and basic material assistance.
Investigation following complaints
The investigation into a possible prohibited agreement between the two companies aimed at manipulating public procurement procedures began after three separate complaints from three different institutions. According to the CPC, each contained indications of possible cartel behaviour.
The rector of Sofia Technical University filed a complaint alleging an illegal agreement between “Stelit-1” and “Kiltex” following their participation in a procedure to supply food products to the university’s branch in Plovdiv.
A second complaint was filed by Tryavna Mayor Dencho Minev. It concerned a food supply contract for the town’s social enterprise.
Minev discovered that in four separate lots, the two bidders had identified the same food facility registered under the Food Act, located at 8 Stoyan Bachvarov Street in Sevlievo.
During the preliminary investigation, a third complaint was submitted by the director of Kalina Kindergarten in Tryavna, who also expressed suspicions of coordination between the two companies.
Coordinated pricing
During its preliminary investigation, the CPC found that the two companies had participated in the selection stage of the Technical University procedure in an apparently identical manner.
Either both companies submitted bids for a particular lot, or neither did.
The pattern identified by the commission was that when both were ranked, the company offering the lower price – most often “Stelit-1” – would subsequently decline to sign the contract, allowing the contracting authority to award it to the second-ranked bidder, “Kiltex”, which had submitted a higher price.
The antitrust authority found that in most cases “Stelit-1” offered the lower price with the apparent aim of being selected, while “Kiltex” submitted a higher price but with a sufficiently narrow difference to ensure that it remained immediately behind “Stelit-1”.
Further indications of a connection between the companies emerged from the metadata of their price offers.
According to the CPC, the files were created consecutively, had exactly the same file size and their last edits were made by the same user, identified as “Lina”.
The commission concluded from this evidence that the two companies had coordinated their pricing, with the “Stelit-1” bid being prepared first, followed by the “Kiltex” bid.
In the Tryavna procedure, both companies were excluded after it emerged that they were using the same certificate for a food facility registered under the Food Act, despite supposedly being independent economic operators competing against one another.
The alleged scheme appeared in more than 300 procedures
Between 2020 and 2025, “Stelit-1” and “Kiltex” participated as competitors in nearly 300 public procurement procedures.
In five procedures selected at random by the CPC, investigators identified “multiple suspicious patterns in the behaviour of the participants, giving rise to reasonable suspicion of possible bid manipulation” and “anti-competitive coordinated behaviour”.
These findings were cited by the commission in its decision to open formal proceedings to investigate a possible cartel.
“Kiltex” is also one of the seven companies to which Sevlievo Municipality has awarded major energy-efficiency renovation contracts.
The company has carried out energy-efficiency measures at 2 Dimitar Blagoev residential complex, 5 Mitko Palauzov residential complex, 18 Stefan Peshev Street, 4 Alen Mak Street, Hristo Botev Street and at the Mara Belcheva House of Culture.
The company has also participated in tenders to supply food for Sevlievo’s Home Social Patronage.
In November 2025, it challenged the ranking after being placed second, with “Stelit-1” in third place.
The CPC subsequently annulled the decision of the patronage director and returned the case for a new decision.
The published ruling shows that “Stelit-1” had submitted a total price of just under BGN 199,000 excluding VAT – identical to the price offered by “Kiltex”.
What can the investigators seize?
During the inspections at the companies’ offices, CPC officials have the power to examine and seize documents and records regardless of the medium on which they are stored.
They can also use specialised equipment to recover, authenticate and analyse digital information.
The evidence collected during the inspections will be added to the case file, after which the CPC will rule within the scope of its statutory powers.
If a cartel is ultimately established, the financial penalty can reach up to 10% of the company’s total turnover for the preceding financial year.
