Zivkovic Samardzic has secured a victory for its clients, Petrol d.d. Ljubljana and Petrol Crna Gora MNE d.o.o, the leading Slovenian energy company and its Montenegrin subsidiary, in their dispute with Konim d.o.o. Belgrade in the Montenegrin Court of Appeal.
According to Zivkovic Samardzic, "the dispute concerned certain consultancy services provided by Konim d.o.o. Belgrade with regards to Petrol’s successful bid at the 2007 international tender for setting up a 50/50 joint venture company with Montenegro Bonus, a Montenegrin state-owned firm that was operating the oil and gas depots in the country. Konim d.o.o. Belgrade contended that it was entitled to receive a success fee in the amount of EUR 1.46 million, pro rata to the amount of the investment as anticipated in the agreement to set up a joint venture company. However, the 2007 agreement entered into between Montenegro Bonus and Petrol was terminated in 2011, up to which point only some 10 million out of the anticipated EUR 154.55 million were invested."
In its decision, the Court of Appeal of Montenegro upheld the July 2016 decision of the Montenegrin Commercial Court rejecting the plaintiff’s success fee claim. According to Zivkovic Samardzic, "in delivering the judgment, the Court of Appeal of Montenegro held that Konim was not entitled to a success fee solely on the fact that Petrol has entered into the joint venture agreement, but rather under the condition that the actual investment has taken place which, besides some EUR 10 million, has never actually happened."
The Zivkovic Samardzic team representing Petrol and its Montenegrin subsidiary was led by Partner Milos Milosevic, who explained that “for Zivkovic Samardzic, it was important to prove our regional footprint, our capacity to support the client, an important player on the energy field of South Eastern Europe in this particular case, beyond Serbia as our base." Milosevic was supported by Senior Associate Marko Trisic.
