15.09.2024. / 9:02
BELGRADE – When the state of Serbia became the sole owner of Air Serbia in November last year, it paid 2.04 billion dinars, which is about 17.4 million euros. That’s how much it cost to exit Etihad Airways from the ownership structure of the national airline.
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What was hidden when it was disclosed is no longer a secret – in order to become a 100 percent owner of Air Serbia, the state bought the remaining 16.42 percent of the national airline’s shares from Etihad Airways.
“The payment of funds in the amount of 2,038,956,000 dinars was made to the account of the Central Registry, Securities Depository and Clearing, based on the contract on the transfer of Air Serbia shares and the conclusion of the government by which the Government of Serbia gave consent for the purchase of 3,354,050 ordinary shares of Air Serbia” , stated the State Audit Institution controlling the final accounts of the Ministry of Finance for the year 2023.
State auditors stated that the state owns shares in domestic public and private non-financial companies and institutions worth 88.14 billion dinars.
Of that, 27.79 billion dinars refer to domestic public non-financial companies, 12.57 billion dinars to domestic private non-financial companies, and 11.7 billion dinars to domestic financial institutions.
When it comes to banks, the state has shares in them worth 36 billion dinars.
The auditors state that last year the state increased the capital in domestic public non-financial companies and institutions (including Air Serbia) by 2.04 billion dinars, which is entirely related to the purchase of shares of the national airline, for which, along with the price shares, paid and usual commission to the Central Securities Register.
“Capital participation in domestic public non-financial companies and institutions in the amount of 2,039,748,000 dinars was carried out on the basis of the contract on the transfer of shares and the conclusion of the government by which the government gave consent for the purchase of 3,354,050 ordinary shares of Air Serbia, which amounts to 2,038,956,000 dinars, while the amount of 792,000 dinars is the fee of the Central Registry of Securities for these services”, states DRI.
As N1 reminds, on November 13, 2023, just as the national airline marked ten years of existence since Air Serbia was created from Jat Airways with the help of Etihad Airways, a strategic partner, the news arrived that from that day it will be completely in by the hands of the state of Serbia.
From then until today, it has not been disclosed how much the state paid for the remaining package of 16.42 percent ownership of Air Serbia, in order to register as a 100 percent owner, nor is this information available in the publicly published financial reports of the airline. The price of 2.04 billion dinars (about 17.4 million EUR) paid last year for 3.3 million shares of Air Serbia is lower than the recapitalization carried out in 2022.
Namely, at that time the state increased its ownership share in the national airline by paying 1.82 billion dinars (15.47 million EUR). Thus, in 2022, the Republic of Serbia increased its ownership to 83.58 percent, while the automatic share of Etihad was reduced from 18.03 to 16.42 percent.
That Air Serbia will be returned to the full ownership of the state could be sensed since the coronavirus pandemic, when, in 2020, the Republic of Serbia began to repay loans, and then to recapitalize the airline.
The first recapitalization of Air Serbia, from December 2020, was carried out by the state with a monetary contribution of 100 million euros. It was about the amount of exactly 11,757,730,000 dinars, paid for the issuance of 11,757,730 shares, worth 1,000 dinars each. Thus, at the end of 2020, the Republic of Serbia increased its ownership in this company from 51 percent to 81.97 percent, while Etihad’s share fell from 49 percent to 18.03 percent.
As Air Serbia announced at the time, the recapitalization was carried out on the basis of a contract between the Ministry of Economy and Air Serbia, at the request of the national airline, and in accordance with the decree from October 2020. That decree provides that companies that are in trouble due to the pandemic can to receive money from the state, but the state will receive a share of their property in return.
This type of aid, through recapitalization, is intended by decree for both private and state-owned enterprises, but it was initially estimated that it was brought precisely because of Air Serbia. The calculation of the Fiscal Council at the time showed that the state allocated around 200 million euros for Air Serbia.
After that, in June 2022, the Government of Serbia, with a new conclusion, “accepts the report on the assessment of the value of damage and objective loss suffered by the Air Serbia company due to the covid-19 pandemic in the period from March 19, 2020 to December 31, 2021”. Then it is agreed that, in addition to the December 2020 recapitalization of 100 million euros, a new cash contribution in the amount of 15.47 million euros will be entered.
Etihad, as a minority shareholder, did not have the pre-emptive right to purchase these shares “due to the established current inability of Etihad Airways to participate in the necessary recapitalization of Air Serbia”.
By the way, during the pandemic, Air Serbia shared the fate of all the world’s air carriers, operating at a loss.
Thus, in 2020, the company’s loss was slightly higher than five billion dinars, while the deficit in Air Serbia’s coffers a year later, in 2021, was two billion dinars.
Before the pandemic, in 2019, Air Serbia performed positively. In that year, it recorded slightly more than nine million euros in profit, but at the same time, it also received state aid of about 20 million euros. Some analyzes show that in the five years before the pandemic, the state “poured” about 200 million euros into Air Serbia from the budget. It is also interesting that the recent co-owner of the airline, Etihad, did not give a single dinar in any case.
Last year, 2023, Air Serbia ended with a profit of 4.76 billion dinars, which is 89 percent more than in 2022, when it also operated positively (2.5 billion dinars in profit). N1
Source: www.capital.ba
