BELGRADE (Serbia), January 26 (SeeNews) – Serbian agro-industrial conglomerate MK Group and meat processing group Industrija mesa Matijevic have withdrawn from the privatisation of agricultural company Poljoprivredna Korporacija Beograd (PKB), local media reported on Thursday.
The two companies consider that they are not in able to compete with foreign groups, "serious players", that are interested in the privatisation of PKB, news agency Tanjug quoted the owner of Industrija mesa Matijevic, Petar Matijevic, as saying.
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Approached by SeeNews, MK Group denied comment.
In April 2015, Serbian media reported that MK Group and Industrija mesa Matijevic agreed to set up a consortium to jointly bid for the acquisition of PKB, one of the biggest holding companies in the country.
Serbia's privatisation agency said last week that it had called a public tender for the sale of PKB. Potential investors are invited to submit letters of interest by February 17, according to a public notice posted on the website of the government agency. The transaction will include PKB subsidiaries Poljoprivredna Avijacija, EKO-LAB, PKB Agroekonomik and Veterinarska Stanica.
In December 2015, a public call for the sale of PKB was issued, with a starting price equal to 51% of the estimated value of the company's fixed assets, or 155 million euro ($166.2 million). However, no offer was submitted within the February 29, 2016 deadline.
PKB employs 1,622. The company's capital amounts to 51.2 billion dinars.
($ = 0.932393 euro)