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Slovenia, Ljubljana: Slovenia's largest brewery, Pivovarna Lasko (PILR), said on Thursday, August 26 it would launch a bid to acquire a stake in Serbian drinks firm Knjaz Milos after winning approval from Serbia's securities regulator. “Pivovarna Lasko” received permission from the Securities Commission in Serbia and Montenegro to bid for shares in Knjaz Milos. Lasko will publish the offer in the coming days," the company said in a statement. The statement said the company would offer 9,500 dinars ($157) per share for up to 40 percent of Knjaz, according to Reuters.

Lasko's bid is a counteroffer challenging plans by Serbian National Basketball Association (NBA) star Vlade Divac to become the majority owner in the company. Divac is the partner of choice both for the government and for the management of Knjaz.

Also vying for Knjaz Milos is a Cayman Islands-registered hedge fund, part of the London Based FPP Group, which earlier this month offered 9,000 dinars per share for Knjaz. And on Wednesday, a different UK-based investment fund, Ashmore Investment Management Limited, said it would offer small shareholders 10,000 dinars ($172.7) per share. "Lasko expects further counteroffers by other bidders," the Lasko statement added.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus said Serbia would decide what to do with its 41.28 percent stake after the Securities Commission meets on Friday to approve the potential offers. "We will wait a day or two for potential buyers to state what they want and then we will make a decision," Labus said.

"The government does not favour anyone ... it will defend the state interest," he told a news conference. "Let us see if the price is suitable or not, whether it is better for only a small package of shares to be sold, a majority or the entire package." London-based asset manager Salford Continental, which manages the New World Fund, said separately it had decided not to make an offer for Knjaz, after two years of talks on its privatisation.

Knjaz, which controls about 60 percent of the local mineral water market, is based in the central town of Arandjelovac and dubbed by its workers the Serbian Coca-Cola.

The company's workers hold about the same number of shares as the state. Knjaz pensioners, who want to sell their stock, hold nearly 17 percent. (Additional reporting by Beti Bilandzic in Belgrade)


01 September, 2004