Zivkovic Samardzic has successfully represented Titan, an international cement and building materials producing group headquartered in Athens, in a dispute with former minority shareholders of Cementara Kosjeric, the group’s Serbian subsidiary, relating to the 2009 squeeze-out of minority shareholders, which was governed by the 2006 Securities and Other Financial Instruments Act in force at the time.
According to Zivkovic Samardzic, in 2002 Titan acquired 70% of shares of Cementara Kosjeric, a cement plant in Western Serbia, through privatization. At the same time, 7.93% of the company’s shares were distributed free of charge to employees, while 22.07% of shares remained state-owned. In December of 2008, Titan acquired the state-owned package of shares and made an offer to the minority shareholders, which was accepted by some and resulted in the group’s owning more than 95% of shares, thus exceeding the threshold for squeezing out the remaining minority shareholders. The squeeze-out was enforced in 2009 with no formal objections made by any minority shareholders. Subsequently, in 2014, a group of ten minority shareholders decided to sue, claiming certain alleged irregularities related to the sale of state-owned package of shares. The Commercial Court in Belgrade rejected the claim in 2017 — a ruling that the Commercial Appellate Court upheld on appeal, finding that the squeeze-out was enforced in full accordance with the 2006 Securities and Other Financial Instruments Act.
The Zivkovic Samardzic team representing Titan was led by Partner Igor Zivkovski and Of Counsel Milos Zivkovic.
