SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), October 6 (SeeNews) – Bosnia's Federation sold on Thursday its 19.3% stake in drug maker Bosnalijek for 23.4 million marka ($13.4 million/12 million euro) to an undisclosed buyer, the Sarajevo bourse announced.
The buyer bought a total of 1,507,724 Bosnalijek shares in an auction on the bourse at 15.51 marka apiece, above the 14.73 marka asking price, the bourse operator said.
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"There were several interested buyers, hence the sales deal was made with the highest bidder - the buyer who offered the highest price", the Sarajevo bourse said in an emailed statement to SeeNews.
The Federation raised 1.2 million marka more than intended.
This was the second auction for the state stake in Bosnalijek, after the first one, held on July 28, failed to attract bidders.
In September, the Federation cut the asking price of its stake in Bosnalijek by 0.77 marka per share to increase its chances of finding a buyer.
Earlier this year, two auctions for a state stake in insurer Sarajevo Osiguranje also failed to attract bidders on the bourse. The government, however, succeeded recently in selling a 39.9% stake in tobacco factory Fabrika Duhana Sarajevo (FDS) to Austrian investment company CID Adriatic Investments GmbH (CID) for 42.7 million marka.
Bosnalijek's net profit increased to 11.2 million marka in 2015 from 10.1 million marka a year earlier. The company markets its product in 13 countries and employs over 700 in Bosnia.
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)