SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), August 25 (SeeNews) – The government of Bosnia’s Muslim Croat Federation said on Thursday it has instructed the entity's privatisation agency to postpone until September 15 an auction for the sale of a 39.9% stake in tobacco factory Fabrika Duhana Sarajevo (FDS) via the Sarajevo Stock Exchange.
The government said, following its weekly session, that it will review its decision from July 22 when it determined the conditions for the sale of the state stake in FDS.
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It added that, by its next session, it will put together a document reviewing the sale of FDS, but also the government shares in insurer Sarajevo Osiguranje and drug maker Bosnalijek.
The auction of 511,478 FDS shares for a price of 83.5 marka ($48.2/42.7 euro) apiece was earlier scheduled to take place on September 1.
According to local media, the government decided to review its decision after SBB party leader Fahrudin Radoncic called on the Federation's prime minister Fadil Novalic to delay the sale of FDS. Radoncic stated that the amount sought for the state stake in the tobacco co is double the state capital in the company, which totals 85.8 million marka.
The privatisation agency failed in July to sell its stake in Sarajevo Osiguranje via two different auctions on the bourse. It also failed to attract bids in an auction for 1,507,724 shares in Bosnalijek at 15.50 marka apiece.
The Federation is one of the two autonomous entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.
(1 euro=1.95583 marka)