SETimes.comBusiness: Pepsi eyes Serbian mineral water company
08/08/2008
Serbia is negotiating the sale of Knjaz Milos, its largest mineral water producer. Also this week: a French car manufacturer will open a plant in Bulgaria, and Standard & Poor's boosts Romania's outlook.
Pepsi confirmed that it is negotiating the acquisition of the largest Serbian mineral water producer, Knjaz Milos. The Serbian firm's corporate director, Rade Pribicevic, said the sale is likely to be finalised by the end of the year, with a price of up to 200m euros expected.
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French automotive components manufacturer Montupet announced that its plant in Ruse, Bulgaria, will start operating on September 12th. The 36m-euro facility will supply auto parts to Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Audi and Ford.
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Standard & Poor's raised Romania's investment risk outlook from Group 8 to 7 and lowered the outlook for economic recession from 35-50% to 25-40%. The new rating reflects expansion and technological improvements in the banking sector.
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Izmir, Turkey, will host its 77th International Fair, gathering over 1,100 companies from nearly 60 countries from August 22nd to August 31st. The companies will set up exhibitions in 19 different product groups, Izmir Mayor Aziz Kocaoglu said. This year's honoured guest country is Cuba.
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Albania allocated 37% more funds to this year's budget compared to the first half of 2007, Finance Minister Ridvan Bode said on Monday (August 4th). The planned budget expenditures have been completed by 87%, while the surplus amounts to 41m euros.
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Kosovo agencies spent only 30% of their budgets in the first half of this year, the finance ministry said in a report. Only 14% of the planned budget for capital investment was spent.
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Croatia's Competition Council has decided to freeze the government's financial support for the restructuring of local shipbuilding plants. The Council emphasised that the government decided to privatise 3.Maj, Brodosplit, Brodotrogir, Kraljevica and Uljanik plants, and that these privatisations should be completed before any further restructuring.
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Montenegro gained 24.5m euros in the first half of the year from privatisation, sale of stock and real estate, the country's Privatisation Council announced on Friday (August 1st). The council decided at a session to take steps for the privatisation of Budvanska Rivijera, Ulcinjska Riviera, the Institute of Black Metallurgy and other enterprises.
(Various sources – 01/08/08 - 08/08/08)