New owners of B92 - Veran Matic still editor-in-chief

TV station B92 has got the new majority owner! Astonko, the company formed by one of its former shareholders - Swedish East Capital investment fund, through Salink company, and Greek Lake Bade company, the property of Stefanos Papadopoulos, now owns 84.99% of shares of the "ninety two". The shares have been purchased from former shareholders - MDLF and NCA.

- The value of recapitalization is 425 million dinars - B92 CEO Veran Matic confirmed for daily paper Novosti.

- Papadopoulos is the owner of national television TV Macedonia, of which headquarters is in Salonika.

As Novosti learns from unofficial sources, Papadopoulos does not have any ownership share in Greek TV Antena, which has already become the majority owner of former TV Fox, now called Prva Srpska Televizija (First Serbian Television). But he is a shareholder in one of Greek national TV companies.

People at the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RBA) confirmed for Novosti that the acquisition was not in breach of any legal regulation on the media ownership.

- Upon receiving a request for a change in the ownership structure from B92, we have examined all legal circumstances and given our consent - Vice President of the RBA Council Goran Karadzic says for Novosti.

- They announced that the program scheme would not be changed, but we will keep monitoring their program.

People at B92 also say that they will not change the editorial policy and that all the decisions related to that policy will still be made by B92 Trust, the shareholder run by the founders and managers of this media company.

A new Managing Board has also been appointed. It is led by Veran Matic who remained in the position of the editor-in-chief. Other members are Jakob Grapengiser, Denis Vinokurov, Stefanos Papadopoulos, Tanja Stanisic, Georgios Xantopoulos, and Nebojsa Samardzic.