Affiliates of Serbian-based Atlas Group Buy Stakes in Montenegro’s Two Bourses – Media

Investment fund Atlas Mont Fond and brokerage CG Broker acquired earlier this week 29% of Montenegro Stock Exchange and 21% of the NEX Montenegro bourse, positioning Atlas Group into a key player on the local capital market, Montenegrin daily Vijesti (www.vijesti.me) reported.

The purchase of the stakes from Montenegro’s Hipotekarna Banka has turned the owner of Atlas Group, businessman Dusko Knezevica, into a 48% shareholder in Montenegro Stock Exchange and a 58% shareholder in NEX Montenegro.

Atlas Mont Fond and CG Broker paid a total of 180,000 euro ($267,455), or 90,000 each, for the stake in Montenegro Stock Exchange, while the NEX Montenegro shares were sold at 1.536 euro each, or three times their par value, Vijesti said.

According to an unnamed source from Atlas Group, the move is just a tune-up for the bourses’ merger.

($=0.6731 euro)