Eight bids for PKB purchase – Among interested parties officially Kostic, Matijevic, Al Dahra, Chinese company...

Eight investors from Serbia and abroad are interested in privatizing Poljoprivredna Korporacija Beograd (PKB). Letters of intent have been sent by Serbia's Matijevic and MK Group, UAE's Al Dahra, two companies from Great Britain, one from China and one from Singapore, as well as a businessman from Kovin.

Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic said that the model of privatization and the invitation for the submission of binding bids were to follow a month to a month and a half later.

– I expect that we will find an owner by the end of the year – Knezevic says. Whether the plan will be realized, he adds, depends on how serious the purchasers are.

He stated that he would not allow any purchase aiming to turn the agricultural land into building land to take place.

– There's a section of the building land which will be set aside, namely, the area around the Borca-Zemun bridge, which will not be subject to privatization. All other agricultural land needs to serve for agricultural production – Minister Knezevic says.

On January 19, the Ministry of Economy of Serbia opened a public invitation for the collection of letters of intent from investors interested in taking part in the privatization of PKB and four subsidiaries – Poljoprivredna Avijacija PKB, EKO - LAB, PKB Agroekonomik i Veterinarska Stanica PKB.

The deadline for the submission of letters was February 17, and interested investors were supposed to propose the price, the privatization model, the investment program, the general business plan, as well as the number of employees.

PKB is one of the biggest and oldest agricultural collectives in Serbia, with over 20 thousand hectares of arable land, more than 26 thousand head of cattle, machinery, equipment, greenhouses and 1,700 employees. The value of the company's assets amounts to around RSD 51.2 billion, and the Assembly of the City of Belgrade transferred 99% of PKB shares to the state in September 2016.

Two big local companies among interested parties

– We said that we would accept any form of privatization the state opted for. Of course, we would more gladly take 100% of the ownership, but if the state believes that it has an interest in remaining a shareholder, we will adjust accordingly – says Jovan Purar, director of MK Group.

Petar Matijevic, owner of Industrija Mesa Matijevic, says that “if an investor were given a condition to keep something, a certain number of workers, certain land, a number of cows, or anything PKB owns, that would not be good, as that would not be free trade. The best option is to sell the fixed and working assets, without which we can't work”.

The government is expected to provide a realistic evaluation of PKB, and the interested parties remind that the previous attempt at the sale at the price of EUR 154 million failed as no one had answered the invitation.

– PKB is worth a lot on paper, but it has never made profit. It now owes EUR 80 million, and if this continues, it will be a burden to the state, which the state would free itself of with the first day of privatization – Petar Matijevic says.

PKB Korporacija a.d. Beograd

IM Matijević d.o.o. Novi Sad

MK Group d.o.o. Beograd

Al Dahra Ujedinjeni Arapski Emirati

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Vlada Republike Srbije

Poljoprivredna avijacija PKB d.o.o. Beograd

EKO-LAB d.o.o. Beograd

Institut PKB Agroekonomik Beograd

Veterinarska stanica PKB Padinska Skela

Grad Beograd

Poljoprivredna Korporacija Beograd

IM Matijevic

MK Group

Al Dahra UAE

Ministry of Economy

Government of Serbia

Poljoprivredna Avijacija PKB

EKO LAB

PKB Agroekonomik

Veterinarska Stanica PKB

City of Belgrade

Jovan Purar

Petar Matijevic

privatization of Poljoprivredna Korporacija Beograd

PKB

Goran Knezević

sale of PKB