The price for PKB lower than EUR 91 mil – The state writing off debts and selling the property worth EUR 300 mil

The Ministry of Economy and the City of Belgrade have made agreements with banks to restructure PKB's debts, since the evaluation of the capital for 2015 hasn't yet been done. Following this, even with the employees being against it, PKB will be privatized for the price which shouldn't exceed EUR 91 mil.

This means that the future buyer will buy the property, whose value has been estimated at EUR 303 mil, at a reduced price, since, aside from the decreased value, the company will also be unburdened from a EUR 70 mil worth of debts, which will be taken over by the state.

Namely, since no one was interested in buying PKB at the price of EUR 154 mil, which was a 51% of the estimated value of the capital on 31 December 2014, the law prescribes that an attempt at a sale at 30% of the market value should follow.

A Blic source from the Government thinks that the conglomerate will be privatized by the end of the year.

- The estimation of the value of the capital should be made by the end of June, which is the condition for the tender. The initial results based on financial reports indicate that the value of the company had not increased relative to 2014, since the losses had increased a year later. This could lower the value of the capital worth EUR 303 mil and the price could go below EUR 91 mil – says the Blic source.

The price of EUR 154 mil was too high for Serbian companies, whereas the foreign ones weren't interested either, since they weren't sure how the problem of the ownership of almost 18,000 hectares of land would be solved.

In addition to the low prices, another advantage is the fact that the state will take over the debts, the Blic interviewee says.

In these changed privatization conditions, Petar Matijevic, the owner of Meat Industry Matijevic, who has made a consortium together with Miodrag Kostic and his MK Group in order to acquire PKB, may decide to answer the tender call.

- The price of EUR 154 mil was too high. In determining the initial price, the state neglected that there had been a drastic fall in the prices of agricultural products and that there were risks involved with investing in that area. These factors too should now influence the price if the state is truly interested in selling PKB. I'm still interested in the conglomerate, but only after it's been tendered will I be able to say if I will apply for it and whether I will act alone or together with the consortium. This also depends on our relations with the German company Tonnies, which is interested in buying my company – says Matijevic for Blic.

The Minister of Economy Zeljko Sertic emphasizes that the most important thing for the state is that agreements were made with banks to postpone the collection of claims.

- This enables PKB to continue working and not have to declare bankruptcy. Everything else will be in accordance with the law and the agreement with the city – says Sertic for Blic.

Unions announce actions

The unions are of the opinion that the Government is deliberately lowering the price of PKB in order for someone to acquire a great fortune in the sale.

- The value of the conglomerate is at least three times bigger. We won't let this happen without saying anything – says Milos Djordjevic, head of the Independent Union of PKB.

He states that the application for the social program has begun, through which the workers will receive EUR 300 per year of service.

PKB Korporacija a.d. Beograd

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Grad Beograd

IM Matijević d.o.o. Novi Sad

MK Group d.o.o. Beograd

Tonnies Nemačka

PKB

Zeljko Sertic

Petar Matijevic

Miodrag Kostic

Tonnies

Milos Djordjevic

Independent Union of PKB