BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), February 28 (SeeNews) – The agriculture ministry of Bosnia's Serb Republic called on Bulgaria's Bulgartabac to continue production and keep all jobs at its tobacco factory in Banja Luka.
Last week, Bosnian media reported that Bulgartabac will close down the factory in around 15 days, leaving a hundred people unemployed.
"The management of Bulgartabac, in cooperation with the employees, must offer a solution in terms of continuing production, securing a strategic partner or selling the factory, but making sure to retain all jobs," the Serb Republic agriculture ministry said in a statement on Wednesday after agriculture minester Stevo Mirjanic met with the management and the workers' union of the Banja Luka factory.
The government of the Serb Republic will consider all possibilities towards maintaining production and retaining employees, the ministry noted.
After British American Tobacco (BAT) announced in April last year it has acquired Bulgartabac's entire range of cigarette brands in Bosnia, including those produced in Banja Luka, as part of a larger deal with the Bulgarian company, now Bulgartabac is shutting down the 130-year old factory, Bosnian news portal Capital.ba reported last week.
According to Capital.ba, the employees were informed of the pending closure and were told that Bulgartabac "no longer works in the tobacco industry".
Last year in April, BAT said it has signed an agreement with Bulgartabac to buy the Bulgarian company's leading brands for more than 100 million euro. The deal also includes acquisition of Bulgartabac's distribution and retail assets in Bulgaria and within the wider Adriatic region.
Prior to that, BAT purchased the tobacco business of Bosnian company Fabrika Duhana Sarajevo (FDS), including its retail business and tobacco brands, from Austria's CID Adriatic Investments (CID).
Bulgartabac's Bulgarian unit Blagoevgrad-BT became the sole owner of the Banja Luka tobacco company in 2015, after entering its ownership structure in 2013.