Today, Wednesday, Miroslav Bogićević sold 50 percent of his share in the company "Politika novine i magazinei" to Boban Rajić, the owner of "Novosti".
The company "Politika Novine i Magazini" publishes the newspapers "Politika" and "Sportski Journal" and is the owner of Štamparija.
Miroslav Bogićević, the owner of the MB Farmakom concern, which includes the "Šabac" Dairy and the "Sombor" battery factory, is satisfied with this transaction because Rajić gave "some commitment that he will invest in 'Politics'" and because he trusts him considering that Rajić was a "big customer" of his dairy. Bogićević did not want to confirm whether he sold his 50 percent for eight million euros.
Miroslav Bogićević is a 50 percent share in the company "Politika Novine i Magazini" (PNM) bought in 2012 from the German publisher VAC. He made the purchase through the company "Ist Media Group". The remaining 50 percent of PNM is owned by the state, i.e. the company "Politika ad", in which the state owns 90 percent of the shares.
In order for this transaction to take place, it was necessary to complete two preliminary operations.
The decision of the Commission for the Protection of Competition, which lifted the ban on the company "Ist Media Group" from selling its share in the company PNM, as well as the decision of "Polity AD" that the state is not interested in using the right of pre-emption that it has by law. Both of these conditions were fulfilled about a month ago, and Bogićević was enabled to sell his share in PNM.
"Ist Media Group" is a company from Moscow, about which nothing was known here at the time when it was bought from the media group Westdeutsche Algemeine Zeitung (VAC) in 2012. behind which Bogićević stands, and which bought 50 percent of PNM from the company VAC, only to be later revealed to be behind it Bogicevic. VAC has been in Serbia since 2001, when it founded the company PNM with "Politika" AD.
New co-owner of PNM Boban Rajić bought "Večernje Novosti" for 2,5 million euros in 2019. Then it was found out about him that he is the owner of several companies, as well as that the registration application for the purchase of "Novosti" was submitted on his behalf by lawyer Igor Isailović, who is the lawyer of Finance Minister Siniša Malog and the business partner of Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and an associate of businessman from Kosovo Zvonka Veselinović.
There is no mention of whether Boban Rajić, the owner of "Novosti" and the new co-owner of PNM, asked for, and thus whether he received, consent for market concentration from the Commission for the Protection of Competition.
S.Ć./NovaS
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
