Montenegrin newspaper to be privatised
In its bid to privatise the oldest state-run daily in M o n t enegro, the Montenegrin government will offer only 51 percent of its shares in Pobjeda, the local press an n o u n ced. Such a move will allow the state to retain power over str ategic decisions in content, design and overall production.
The tender for the privatisation of Pobjeda — which also publishes the weekly Albanian newspaper Koha Javore, the monthly family magazine Porodicni, and the sports daily Arena — will be closed on March 4.
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), a German media group that has investments in Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia among others, is so far the only investor to purchase tender documents for the privatisation. WAZ carried out a three-day analysis of Pobjeda’s media holdings, and met with the company’s management as well as the government’s Agency for Economic Res t r u ctur i ng and Foreign Investments, which is supervising the tender.
According to the terms, Pobjeda’s ultimate buyer must have at least five years of media experience, a turnover in 2007 of at least €15 million, and zero losses in the past three years.
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