Serbia's Richest Man Offers to Run State Company

Miodrag Kostic, the richest man in Serbia, whose companies mainly focus on agricultural production and trade, has said he is ready to take up a leadership role in one of Serbia's loss-making public companies - but did not said which one.

In order to take over one of the companies, Kostic has set some conditions. One is that he will not become a company director but only a president of a managing or supervisory board.

“I cannot be a director. Even in MK Group, I’ve not been involved in operational business for years, but am building a vision of the company," he said.

“When it comes to restructuring of one of the public companies, I can help in development of the strategy, election of management…But I can't deal with operational tasks on a daily basis,” Kostic told the daily NIN on August 27.

The second condition is that company he is in charge of must have more than 5,000 employees and a cash flow of several hundred million euros.

“If I’m running a company with a €700-million annual profit and 5,000 epmloyees, it would not be right to assign me to a loss-maker with 200 workers,” Kostic explained.

Kostic is the second Serbian businessmen to accept the call of Aleksandar Vucic, the Prime Minister, to help ailing public companies recover.

Businessman Milan Beko accepted an offer from Prime Minister Vucic to become director of the state-owned Serbian Railways in July.

Serbian Railways is one of biggest loss-makers in the country. Last year alone, the state had to pay up €146 million to cover salaries in the enterprise.

The move came as surprise, as Beko was questioned by police when Vucic started tackling controversial privatisation deals in the country.

Beko has been...