Serbian Blue-Chip Dairy Imlek To Buy Back 5.0% of Capital To Prevent Further Price Drop

Imlek will buy up to 5.0% of its 9,529,610 shares at market price on the Belgrade Stock Exchange (BELEX) aiming to prevent a bigger damage to the company caused by the current turmoil on the capital market, the firm said in a filing to BELEX.

Imlek stock closed up 9.91% to 1,275 dinars ($21/16 euro) on Tuesday. It has lost over 53% since the beginning of the year as the Belgrade market was hit by the global financial crisis.

Imlek already owns 4.49% of its own capital. It is 76.6%-owned by the Danube Foods Group, part of UK-based New World Value Fund, owned and managed by UK-based Salford.

Danube Foods Group is the largest investor in Serbia's dairy sector, controlling the two biggest dairy companies in the country - Imlek and Mlekara Subotica.

Danube Foods Group also runs juice bottler Knjaz Milos and confectionery maker Bambi-Banat in Serbia. The group is a major investor in the dairy sector in Serbia's neighbours Bosnia and Macedonia.

(1 euro = 81.1199 dinars)