Stanimir Karolev is awarded the "Burov Prize 2015" for banking and financial management

Stanimir Karolev is awarded the "Burov Prize 2015" for banking and financial management.

Mr. Stanimir Karolev is a financier, entrepreneur and visionary leader. He is the Founder and Chairman of Karoll Financial Group.

Over the last two decades Karoll has evolved as one of the leading Bulgaria-based financial firms and it has established strategic partnerships with top global institutions.

Starting with its first company in 1993, today the group operates in the field of brokerage, asset management, investment banking, land banking, insurance and consulting. With over 200 experts Karoll serves more than 80,000 customers in 75 offices, and manages and safekeeps over EUR 350m of clients' assets. By launching the first local private equity fund in 2006, the group added energy efficiency, renewable energy, agriculture and high tech to its portfolio.

Realizing innovative management and business concepts, Mr. Karolev has been a pioneer in most of his ventures, turning revolutionary new ideas into successful startups. His contribution to the advancement of the Bulgarian capital market and non-banking financial sector as a whole has been recognized with dozens of personal and corporate awards.

Karoll’s brokerage arm ranks #1 by number of deals on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange for 14 consecutive years (2002-2015). Karoll Brokerage won the "Investment intermediary of the year" prize by the Banker  three times in a row (2006-2008) and the special award for contribution to the development of the local capital market in 2012 and 2015. The firm also lead-managed the first IPO in Bulgaria.

The asset management arm of the group – Karoll Capital Management –  launched the first stock fund in Bulgaria in 2004. Today the company manages 5 mutual funds and partners with one of the top global asset managers, Schroders, since 2012.

Karoll’s farm land REIT– Advance Terrafund – is the first and largest special investment purpose vehicle in the country, now a component of most major local and regional indices. The success of Advance Terrafund has been recognized with numerous awards such as “special investment company with best corporate governance”,  “#1 in real estate investment trusts”,  “ best  company on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange”, etc.

Established in 2013 the first Bulgarian corporate university in the financial sector is also Karoll’s initiative. In 2014 Karoll Corporate University was recognized at the “500 Leadership Excellence Awards” - top 10 in category for innovation projects.

“I believe in the power of knowledge and the human ability to create new things” states Mr. Karolev who regularly supports various educational initiatives, internships and PhD scholarships.