BELGRADE (Serbia), July 27 (SeeNews) – Serbia said on Monday that it will not start sale talks for a 70% stake in its fair company Beogradski Sajam unless the sole bidder in the tender raises its offer to at least 40 million euro ($57 million) from the current 1.8 million.
“The tender commission in charge of handling the privatisation of Beogradski Sajam decided during the second session held on Monday that it will negotiate with the consortium comprising Italian trade fair organiser Rimini Fiera and local firm Verano Motors only if it raises the bid to no less than 40 million euro from current 1.8 million,” the Privatisation Agency said in a statement.
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“The commission will give the consortium 15 days to decide if it accepts the terms,” the statement said.
The consortium has offered to pay the deal price in six annual installments and has pledged to invest a further 35 million euro in the Belgrade-based company over an unspecified timeframe.
Serbia invited bids for the company’s majority stake in December without setting a minimum price.
Beogradski Sajam, which is fully owned by the state, and the Balkan country’s largest drug maker, Galenika, are the only major Serbian state-owned companies whose privatisation this year has not been delayed due to the financial downturn.
Beogradski Sajam’s net profit rose to 148 million dinars ($2.26 million/1.58 million euro) in 2008 from 120 million in 2007, according to Serbian Business Registers Agency data.
The company has 106,000 square metres of exhibition space in the capital Belgrade. It employed 231 people in 2008.
Verano Motors, the authorised dealer of French carmaker Peugeot for Serbia, is part of Verano Group, which was founded in 1991 in Belgrade by Radomir Zivanic. Besides car dealing, the group is also active in investment and banking.
(1 euro=93.2843 Serbian dinars)