October 28 (SeeNews) - Bosnia's Serb Republic lottery operator Lutrija RS [BLSE:LTRS] said it is setting up a joint venture company that will organise games of fortune jointly with Swiss-registered Casino Austria.
The two companies signed a contract on establishing the joint venture company on October 16, government-controlled Lutrija RS said in a filing to the Banja Luka Stock Exchange (BLSE) last week. The shareholders of Lutrija RS will vote on the deal at an extraordinary meeting on November 1.
Earlier this year, Lutrija RS opened an international tender for selecting a partner for the project, saying it will control 51% of the new company, with the future partner to hold the remaining 49%.
In July, Lutrija RS said that the value of its 51% in the future JV has been estimated at 6.75 million marka ($3.8 million/3.45 million euro), including its exclusive rights to hold electronic games of fortune on the territory of the Serb Republic entity. The estimate was made by Serbia-based consultancy KPMG d.o.o Beograd.
Therefore, the overall contribution of the future partner should amount to at least 5.0 million marka, Lutrija RS has said.
Its shares last traded on the BLSE on August 2, closing flat at 0.825 marka.
The Serb Republic's shareholding fund Akcijski Fond is the company's majority shareholder with a 65% stake, followed by Lutrija RS itself with 24%, while the remainder belongs to smaller shareholders.
The Serb Republic is one of two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Federation.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)