Dairy in Pancevo sold for RSD 40 million

Pancevo-based Mlekara (Dairy) was sold on Friday, April 8, to a consortium of physical persons from Belgrade for RSD 40 million. This dairy has been in bankruptcy since last year and the bankruptcy manager Miroslav Gligoric does not want to reveal the name of the new owner until April 25 when the whole agreed price of RSD 40 million should be paid, TV Pancevo announced on its website.

The dairy was bought in 2004 by Goran Ljubicic who is famous in Serbia for buying several dairies, including those in Nis, Kragujevac, Pirot and Senta. After a year and half, the production started to drop and all these dairies began to collapse. Ljubicic was then hired by Salford, the main competitor in the dairy market in Serbia.

The sale of Pancevo-based Mlekara was canceled in 2006 and the dairy was then allotted to the company Solventa. However, that was when all mortgage loans taken out by Ljubicic from AIK Banka started to come to the surface. That was not the only reason for that bank to start the bankruptcy proceedings in 2009 in order to collect its claims. At the moment of the privatization, Pancevo-based Mlekara was one of the most successful dairies in Serbia and had about 220 employees.