Portuguese investment group Alpak Kapital is negotiating the purchase of N1 and other United Group media outlets, Vremena sources say. Alpak Capital, whose head is close to Viktor Orban, owns Euronews and uses it as a "franchise for autocrats".
Investment group Alpak Kapital, owner of the channel network Juronjuz, is heavily in negotiations to buy N1, Nova S, Danas, Radar and other media that now still belong to the United group, claim several "Vremena" sources.
Until the publication of this article, neither Alpak Capital nor the investment fund BC Partners, the majority owner of the United Group and thus the mentioned media, responded to "Vremena" inquiries.
Alpak Capital is officially a Portuguese company that invests in media, telecommunications and technology.
"Vreme" finds out: Instead of Igor Božić, someone from the "family" is coming to N1
But the first man of the group Pedro Vargas David is extremely close to the outgoing Hungarian ruler Viktor Orbán. The businessman's father, Mario David, was a member of the European Parliament and has been Orbán's adviser and intimate for many years.
"They are now in a hurry to market the media in Serbia, until all of Orban's schemes fail," a source familiar with the events told Vreme. Allegedly, in the sale of N1 and other authorities, Aleksandar Vučić sees the final way to silence critical media.
By the way, Vučić himself publicly mentioned his good relations with Mario David.
Although no one will speak officially about the possible deal - some claim that it could be completed already in the next month - it is already an open secret among United Group media employees and there is a lot of discussion about this scenario.
For sale would be all the media that United Group recently placed under the structure called Adria News Network (ANN), which is entrusted to the management of experienced British journalist Brent Sadler.
In addition to the mentioned media in Serbia, the N1 centers in Zagreb, Sarajevo and Ljubljana and Vijesti from Podgorica also belong there.
Sadler is not only the "chief executive editor" of ANN, but recently also officially the media director in Belgrade. His first personnel move was the dismissal of the first man of N1, Igor Božić, who is now officially "unassigned".
As "Vreme" first wrote, Sadler promised the employees that Božić's place would be replaced by someone from the "family", that is, from the company.
But if it is true that new owners are coming, the question is how much all the promises will be worth.
In 2022, Alpak Capital bought Euronews from the Egyptian mogul Nagib Sawiris for 170 million euros.
Euronews, founded in 1993 with the idea of being a pan-European informational television, has become the "megaphone of the European right", as assessed by the serious European press.
Others called this television a "franchise for autocrats" who use it to buy their image - from Serbia to Georgia.
The Juronjuz television channel in Serbian does not belong to Alpak Capital at all, but is 100% financed by the state-owned Serbian Telekom. The rights to use the brand and editorial standards are purchased from Juronuz for an annual sum of several million.
And they, as you can see from the program of Serbian Juronjuz, are quite displeased. Dozens of journalists lost their jobs on that television or left it, complaining of censorship and propaganda in favor of the government.
As for BC Partners, by selling the media, they would finally end the "investment cycle" and would no longer have anything to do with Serbia. They embarked on this "mission" even after parting ways with minority owner Dragan Šolak, who previously ran the company for many years.
Last year, for about 1,5 billion euros, they sold the cable operator SBB and all rights to sports broadcasts. They sold the latter directly to Telekom, making their Arena sport a monopoly on sports events.
During those days, a recording of the conversation between Sten Miller and Vladimir Lučić, the leaders of the United Group and Telekom, was leaked to the public, in which these two agreed in a friendly tone on the reconciliation of the United Group.
"For BC Partners, this is another opportunity to take money from Vučić's regime or related parties, and then attack Serbia," says one "Vremen" source about the alleged deal with Alpak Capital.
For the journalists of N1 and other media, this would mean a new height of uncertainty. For the citizens of Serbia, it is possible that they are left without the biggest media that dare to criticize the government.
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A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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