In the year 1940 year, the Bata Shoe Company established its sister company in Bulgaria for trading various goods. After the war annexation of the Eastern Macedonia in the spring of 1941, several retail stores belonging to the Bata Shoe Company in Yugoslavia thus appeared in the territory of Bulgaria. In 1943, additional stores were opened and a shoe factory was established. The Bata business activities ended after nationalisation in 1947.
- On 19th November 1940 the official journal Državen vestnik announced that a company Bulgarska Kotva a. d., Sofia, was established with focus on import and export of various goods.
- In April 1941 with the annexation of Eastern Macedonia, several Bata retail shops previously controlled from the Yugoslav Borovo appeared on Bulgarian ground; by the end of 1942 another three stores were opened in the pre-war Bulgarian territory.
- With the annexation of Eastern Macedonia, an agricultural company Hamzali belonging to the company Bata found itself in the territory of Bulgaria.
- At the turn of 1942/1943 Bulgarian Kotva rented a small factory in the Ichtiman municipality, between Sophia and Plovdiv; the footwear production in this factory developed quickly: 72, 000 pairs (in the year 1943) – 207, 000 pairs (in 1945) and 213, 000 pairs (in 1947).
- In 1943 Bulgarian Kotva employed 205 workers – 123 in the factory, 83 in the stores.
- In 1946 year, Bulgarian Kotva employed 203 workers: 16 employees in the Central office in Sophia, 180 workers in the Ichtiman factory and 7 persons in stores (Lom, Ruse, Stara Zagora, Pleven, Chaskovo, Loveč, Ichtiman).
- In December 1947 the property of the Bata Shoe Company in Bulgaria was nationalised (Baťa – Ichtiman, Bulgarski Baťa Pleven, Bulgarski Baťa).
Sources:
- Martin Marek, Bouřlivá léta: Baťovské podnikatelské aktivity v širší střední Evropě za druhé světové války, In: Slovanský přehled – Slovanské historické studie, 3/2014, roč. 100, s. 629-687. ISSN 0037-6922
- David Kolumber, Spory o Baťův odkaz, Ostrava 2016, ISBN 978-80-7418-252-5
- Moravský zemský archiv v Brně – Státní okresní archiv Zlín, Česko