Salford sells all companies in Serbia - Fund invests in telecommunications and energy sector

Salford CEO Eugene Jaffe announced that everything that investment fund had in its possession in Serbia was for sale. As he said, the reason for the sale is that Salford finishes its investment cycle.

Mr. Jaffe said that the investment fund would, within the next two years, sell all the companies it had a stake in on the territory of Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and the region.

- The companies we have a stake in will be put up for sale at the market price to global companies. We are of the opinion that the sale will be easy because the companies Salford owns have no troubles with monopolies and operate clean - said Mr. Jaffe. That, however, does not mean that we will withdraw from Serbia. As a fund, we will look for an opportunity to restructure some new companies in Serbia. They do not have to be in the food sector. Instead, our focus in the future may be on the energy and telecommunications sector - Mr. Jaffe pointed out.

Imlek Director General and Danube Foods Group Expert Adviser Slobodan Petrovic reiterated that that company had no monopoly status in the market of Serbia.

As he said after the Antitrust Commission made its decision in 2008, Salford has amended the disputable provision. That concretely means that the company has changed its position and allowed farmers to test the quality of milk in laboratories that are now owned by the company.

Therefore, as Salford Investment Director Petar Nagle stressed today, that investment fund is not responsible for shortage of milk in 2010 since the report and accusations made by the Commission in January 2008 concerned their operations in 2005 and 2006.

By the way, Salford was announcing the sale of its companies in Serbia back in 2007, and then again in 2009, but that idea was given up because of the crisis.

Since the arrival in the market of Serbia, Salford has invested 500 million euros. Over the last five years, the company has invested about 50 million euros in milk manufacturers.