BAT taking over Fabrika Duhana Sarajevo

The British American Tobacco (BAT) will take over the ownership over Fabrika Duhana Sarajevo (FDS) and continue producing local and regional cigarette brands, as announced on Thursday, January 26, 2017, by representatives of BAT and the Austrian investment fund Adriatic Investments (CID), which earlier purchased the majority share package of FDS from the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

General Manager of BAT Adria, Ram Addanki, expressed his satisfaction with the expansion of operations to B&H and estimated that both BAT and FDS would profit that way, as the new owner would strengthen the Sarajevo company's operations. He said that the production in Sarajevo will remain based on local brands like Drina.

Edin Mulahasanovic, director of FDS, said that the acquisition was good for the factory, as it would strengthen its market position.

CID owns 78% of FDS stock, and it bought 38% of shares from the government for slightly over EUR 20 million at the public tender in December 2016. It hasn't been disclosed how much BAT will pay to CID to acquire ownership over the Sarajevo factory.

British American Tobacco

Badeco Adria d.d. Sarajevo

British American Tobacco

BAT

Adriatic Invenstments

CID

Edin Mulahasanovic

Fabrika Duhana Sarajevo

Drina cigarettes

FDS