New auction for sale of department stores "Beko" at end of January - public auction on December 23rd declared as unsuccessful

The department stores of company "Beko" in bankruptcy in Knez Mihailova Street were not sold at the public auction on December 23rd because there were no interested buyers. The starting price for the department store with house no. 44 was about 13.4m EUR, while the starting price for the facility with house no. 39 amounted to about 9.9m EUR. Željko Pešut, the bankruptcy manager of "Beko" says that the sale of the property will be resumed at the end of this month.

There were also no potential buyers interested in three factories in Kovin, Lazarevac and Svilajnac, holiday hostel in Belanovica and department store in Užice. Starting prices of six out of seven units were 20% lower than at the previous auction, which took place on November 18th. On that occasion, only the department store in Aranđelovac was sold at the price of 370,000 EUR.

- Not even one deposit for participation in the public auction was paid, so that the public auction was declared as unsuccessful. It is obvious that the economic crisis is still difficult. Further sale of the property will be resumed at the end of January. The method of sale will still be public auction - Pešut told "Blic" and added that the money from the sale of the property would be spent on reservation of the funds for court disputes of over 28m EUR, while the remaining money would be given to stockholders.

However, minor stockholders gathered in the Association of share owners (UVA) are against further sale of the property, which they want to be returned to the stockholders. According to their words, the value of the remaining property in Serbia is about 30m EUR, while the property in former republics is worth over 15m EUR. They have recently pressed criminal charges against the bankruptcy manager and the bankruptcy judge of the Court of Commerce because, in their opinion, they violated the Law on Bankruptcy Procedure. Also, they want the bankruptcy proceedings to be ended because they claim there were no legal conditions for further bankruptcy.

- There are no reasons for sale of the property because there are over 17m EUR on the company's account. All creditors are paid. Reservation of the funds for court disputes amounts to over 28m EUR. That means that the sale of the property will leave the stockholders with nothing - says Vesna Tatalović, the Secretary of UVA.