PKB waiting to be privatized – Shares of the City of Belgrade to be transferred to the state

The General Meeting of PKB has reached the decision to transfer the shares owned by the city of Belgrade to the Republic of Serbia, which will make the state the owner of the company.

The decision brought by the shareholders should soon be verified by the Assembly of the City of Belgrade, by which the agricultural giant will officially become the responsibility of the Government of Serbia. A Blic source from the Government claims that the purpose of the transaction is to change the model of privatization after a failed tender for the purchase of the entirety of PKB’s property worth EUR 154 million.

– The City has asked for the company’s shares to be withdrawn from the regulated market, by which PKB will turn from a publicly traded corporation to a closely held corporation. In other words, the shares are now in the sole ownership of the founder, which is now the Government, and it will decide on the status of the company. The Government is looking for a way not to sell PKB below price and is seeking another model of privatization, such as would allow the possibility of the sale of parts of the company, instead of the company as a whole, but also the possibility of a strategic partnership – the Blic interviewee says.

This has been indirectly confirmed by Dragisa Petrovic, director general of PKB.

– The General Meeting has indeed reached the decision to transfer the city’s shares to the Republic of Serbia, but this hasn’t yet been actualized, because it needs to be formally confirmed by the Assembly of the City of Belgrade. The aim of such a decision is to establish a wider framework for the further solving of the status of PKB – Petrovic said for Blic.

The president of the Independent Union of PKB, Nikola Lazic, claims that the transfer of ownership from the city to the state is a good move for the workers.

– We believe that the Government will now involve us in choosing the privatization model, as the City has ignored us so far – Lazic stated for Blic.

PKB Korporacija a.d. Beograd

Grad Beograd

privatization

PKB

City of Belgrade

PKB shares

Dragisa Petrovic

Independent Union of PKB

Nikola Lazic