Srbijagas bought property of Agroziv for 11.33 million euros

Public company Srbijagas has become the owner of Pancevo-based poultry meat manufacturer Agroziv.

The agreement on acquisition worth 11.33 million euros has been signed between Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic and Agroziv Bankruptcy Manager Stevan Moldovan, Srbijagas announced on its website on Friday.

After he signed the agreement, Bajatovic said that the acquisition of Agroziv was in accordance with the Government's conclusion and that Srbijagas had been the only bidder on the tender.

- Srbijagas has taken over Agroziv because, if it didn't, that company in bankruptcy, which still represents a brand, would be closed, thus enabling the monopoly of foreign companies in the market of Serbia - Srbijagas CEO pointed out.

Bajatovic added that about 1,000 workers and 2,000 collaborators would have been left without jobs if Agroziv had been closed.

- Although Agroziv is in bankruptcy, that company now makes profit so that all investments by Srbijagas will be returned, while social-economic effects will be quite big - Bajatovic emphasized.

Speaking of the reasons for takeover of the companies debtors, Bajatovic said that the strategic goals of the national gas company was to recover those factories and keep them in operation as its big consumers, to collect the major share of its claims and preserve a social peace.

According to the estimates, the share of Agroziv in the domestic poultry meat market amounts to about 30%.

Agroziv, which is in bankruptcy for two years now, registered business revenues of 53 million euros in 2008 and over 120 million euros in 2007.

The debts of Agroziv are now close to 1.5 billion dinars (nearly 14 million euros).

According to the Bankruptcy Manager's estimate, the assets of Agroziv are worth about 3.7 billion dinars (35.4 million euros).