Who is Mile Jerković?

(Mile Jerković)

Mile Jerković, a businessman from Bačka Topola and the owner of Autobanat, has become famous over the last few years as the champion of privatization in Vojvodina. Jerković, a father of eight, bought many companies with the members of his family, primarily daughter Višnja Jerković, at the privatization auctions.

– I see myself primarily as an entrepreneur who bought about 15 public companies in the privatization process at the highest auction prices and paid for them with the money I can prove I earned - said Jerković.

He mainly bought agricultural and transportation companies. He owns over 5,000 ha of cultivable land in agricultural farms. When it comes to transportation companies, in addition to Autobanat, he and his close associates own Topola Trans from Bačka Topola, Srem Express from Sremska Mitrovica, Kula Trans and Sombor's Severtrans.

Jerković, who is today called "king of roads" and "king of acres", made his "business" soar in the 1990's when he earned huge money by smuggling oil and cigarettes