October 15 (SeeNews) - Serbia's competition authority has launched a probe into the acquisition of 21 Serbian companies by Croatia's Fortenova Group, the successor to the callapsed Agrokor concern, it said.
Fortenova has acquired control of Serbia-based companies, including Frikom d.o.o. Beograd, Dijamant a.d. Zrenjanin, Mivela Mg, PIK Vrbovec d.o.o. Beograd, Kikindski mlin, without approval by the regulator, the competition watchdog said in a notice published on Monday in the latest edition of Serbia's State Gazette.
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The anti-trust body will examine the admissibility of the acquisition of the companies, which previously operated within the Agrokor group, in accordance with the Competition Law, it said.
The business operations of troubled Agrokor were transferred to the newly formed Fortenova Group in April 2019 under a settlement agreement with creditors endorsed by a Zagreb court in June 2018.
Under the settlement agreement a new business entity held by the creditors was established, in which the largest individual shareholder became Russia's Sberbank with a 39.2% stake, followed by the holders of Agrokor bonds with a 24.9% stake, Croatian financial institutions with 15.3%, VTB with 7.5%, and suppliers with 4.7%.