Autocacak Buys BIP for Over RSD 2 Billion – Company to Present Plans in Upcoming Period

The company Autocacak has bought AD BIP Beograd for RSD 2.09 billion at the public opening of the bids at the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency.

Autocacak is the only bidder that responded to the public invitation for the privatization of the former company Beogradska Industrija Piva (BIP) and its offer has been accepted, as it amounts to over a half of the estimated price of BIP as a legal entity, Tanjug reports.

The new owner, Autocacak, has the legal deadline of seven days to sign the sales and purchase agreement and 30 days to pay the difference between the deposit paid to take part in the privatization and the sales and purchase price.

The opening of the bids on behalf of Autocacak was attended by Rados Ljusic, who did not want to provide any information about the reasons of the purchase and the plans for BIP, Tanjug reports.

As Autocacak told eKapija, they will discuss the plans regarding this investment in the upcoming period.

The chairman of the GM of AD BIP in bankruptcy, Mile Bogdanovic, praised the purchase and the achieved price.

– The price is over 50% of the estimated value. I believe that this will help settle the creditors’ claims, primarily the Tax Administration, Komercijalna Banka and the employees, and I am sure that a part of the shareholders will get as many of their shares as possible – he said, as reported by Tanjug.

He added that BIP had not lost its value during the bankruptcy proceedings, but that its value had been maintained.

– I hope that, considering the brand of BIP, it will still work somewhere, regardless of whether it will be in Belgrade – he said.

He pointed out that he wished for the purchasers to maintain the production and for BIP to remain a Serbian brand in the territory of Serbia.

When asked what the total claims by the creditors are, he said that they were lower than the achieved price of RSD 2.09 billion.

The sale was also attended by representatives of BIP’s small shareholders, who did not hide their dissatisfaction, and Gojko Lopar, a member of the managing board of their association, pointed out that BIP was not supposed to go into bankruptcy in the first place.

On behalf of the 483 small shareholders in the association, he said that there had been RSD 500 million in BIP that could have been used to pay the taxes to the state and that the failure to do so had automatically pushed BIP into bankruptcy.

– BIP can work. It is very difficult to comprehend that a brewery cannot operate in the capital of a country in Europe – he said.

Autočačak d.o.o. Čačak

AD BIP BEOGRAD

Agencija za licenciranje stečajnih upravnika Beograd

Autočačak

AD BIP Beograd

Beogradska industrija piva

BIP

Bankruptcy Supervision Agency

Fabrika piva i slada Čačak

Radoš Ljujić

Mile Bogdanović

Gojko Lopar

beer

brewery

small shareholders