Serbia’s Commission for Protection of Competition has launched an investigation into the sale of the national broadcaster B92 in 2010.
Balkan Insight reports that the owners of the B92 may now be forced to divide the company, divest shares or terminate the sale contract should the Commission rule that competition law was broken.
According to the Commission, B92 increased its capital from 2006 to 2009 by issuing new shares, with the largest issue being in autumn 2010, when the sale took place.
The change in ownership was not reported to the Commission, or indeed examined, “which is a legal obligation.
The sale of B92, which took place in November 2010, saw a Greek-Swedish joint venture named Astonko buy an 84.99% stake in the broadcaster from MDLF and NCA.
The remaining shares were retained by the B92 Trust and smaller shareholders.
Although the broadcasting agency RRA approved the sale, another national broadcaster (TV Prva) is understood to have the same owners as B92, which is a violation of the law.
Astonko is a joint between Lake Bade, which is believed to have ownership links with Greece’s Antenna Group, and Sweden’s East Capital
