Meanwhile, Alita has stated through the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius Stock Exchange that it will not recognize this arbitration’s decision.
“The company firmly believes that its involvement as a respondent in the arbitration proceedings initiated by Serbia with the aim to impose a fine on ALT Investicijos and United Nordic Beverages has been unfounded since it is not a party to the agreement on privatization of Beogradska Industrija Piva and has never concluded any agreement to settle the dispute in arbitration,” Alita said in a press release.
The arbitration institution ruled that Alita and Sweden’s United Nordic Beverages shall pay to Serbia’s Privatization Agency a total fine of 16.849 million euros plus annual interest of 1.95 percent.
The Serbian Privatization Agency nationalized shares in BIP in 2009 claiming that Alita and United Nordic Beverages failed to meet their privatization commitments, and in November 2010 took the Lithuanian company to the Serbian arbitration court asking for 234 million litas in damages.
“The decisions by foreign arbitration courts are executable in Lithuania once they are recognized and enforced in accordance with Lithuania’s legislation. The decision by Serbia’s arbitration court as received by the company has not been recognized in accordance with Lithuania’s legislation,” Alita said.
Back in 2009, Alita split up its operations into two separate companies: Alita Group took over the alcoholic drink production facilities in Alytus and Anykščiai, while Alita, which was later renamed ALT Investicijos and went bankrupt some time later, remained in charge of the group's investment in Serbia.
FR&R Invest, an investment company of Swedbank group, owns 84.37 percent of shares in Alita Group, and Vytautas Junevičius holds a 14.48 percent stake in the beverage company, which is listed on the Vilnius stock exchange.
