Govt, Energoprojekt in talks on launch of large Serbian construction group

The government aims to set up a strong company that will have enough employees and modern equipment to carry out the entire civil engineering projects alone, infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said before a meeting with the president of Energoprojekt, Dobroslav Bojovic, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

The infrastructure ministry aims to negotiate with all large construction companies and universities in the country on the incorporation of a single group or a consortium supported by the Serbian state to carry out projects of strategic importance, Mihajlovic said.

"Today our companies participate in projects mainly as subcontractors. Energoprojekt itself acts as a subcontractor of a large foreign company on Corridor XI, and it is in our interest to enable domestic firms to become leading contractors," she noted.

In August, Serbian company Napred Razvoj completed a takeover of the country's largest civil engineering group Energoprojekt [BEL:ENHL], taking control of 52.1% of its capital. Talks will be held with the shareholders who have decided to keep their stakes in Energoprojekt on how to make the company more efficient and bigger, the owner of Napred Razvoj, Dobroslav Bojovic, said back then.

The Serbian government directly controlled a 33.58% stake in Energoprojekt at the end of June 2017, according to data from the financial report of the company for the first half of the year.