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Serbia's Energoprojekt Share Sale Under Scrutiny for Massive State Loss
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธ Serbia /Economy & Trade

Serbia's Energoprojekt Share Sale Under Scrutiny for Massive State Loss

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Serbia's state sold its shares in Energoprojekt to majority owner "Napred Razvoj" for significantly less than a previous offer.
  • The sale price was 452.2 dinars per share, a steep drop from the 1,501 dinars offered in 2017, resulting in a loss of tens of millions of euros for the state.
  • Critics argue the government, through the actions of the Ministry of Economy and state representatives, facilitated a deal that benefited the buyer while harming state finances.

The Serbian state has been accused of significantly damaging its own finances through the sale of its shares in Energoprojekt, a deal that allegedly cost the state far more than the reported 32 million euros.

In July 2017, the state could have sold its approximately 3.75 million Energoprojekt shares to the majority owner, Dobroslav Bojoviฤ‡'s "Napred Razvoj" and associated firms, for 1,501 dinars per share. This would have injected 5.63 billion dinars, or 46.6 million euros, into the state budget. However, this offer was reportedly rejected.

Contrary to the logic of common sense, the state ceded its entire stake to Bojoviฤ‡ for 14 million, and only the land in New Belgrade is worth hundreds of millions of euros.

โ€” Zoran ฤerkoviฤ‡Owner of Tezoro Broker, criticizing the terms of the Energoprojekt share sale.

Nine years later, the state sold the same shares to the same buyer for less than 1.7 billion dinars, or 14.4 million euros. The Ministry of Economy, represented by Adrijana Mesaroviฤ‡ and Siniลกa Mali, has not explained why the 2017 offer was refused and the shares were later sold at such a drastically reduced price. This sale also allowed the new majority owner to retain all undistributed profits totaling 3.7 billion dinars.

Zoran ฤerkoviฤ‡, owner of Tezoro Broker, stated that the state "contrary to the logic of common sense" ceded its entire stake to Bojoviฤ‡ for 14 million euros, while the land alone owned by Energoprojekt in New Belgrade is valued at hundreds of millions of euros. He further alleged that the state's decision was enabled by the vote of Dragan Ugrฤiฤ‡, an assistant to the Minister of Economy, which was crucial in the supervisory board's approval of "Napred Razvoj's" offer. This situation allowed the buyer to increase their stake above the 90 percent threshold, enabling a forced buyout of remaining shares at the low price of 452.2 dinars.

Without the vote of Dragan Ugrฤiฤ‡ (assistant to the Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesaroviฤ‡), the representative of the state in the Supervisory Board, the management of Energoprojekt could not have adopted even a positive opinion on Napred Razvoj's offer. His vote was crucial.

โ€” Zoran ฤerkoviฤ‡Explaining the role of a state representative in approving the controversial Energoprojekt share sale.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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