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6 I Companies & Markets bne February 2022
that time it met all the nominal convergence criteria set by
the Maastricht Treaty (on price stability, the sustainability
of public finances and the indebtedness, the stability of the exchange rate and the level of long-term interest rates). At this moment, however, Romania no longer meets all these criteria.
Romania’s repeated delays to its euro adoption process
is in contrast to fellow Southeast European EU member Croatia. Despite having only joined the EU in 2013, Croatia is now progressing rapidly towards euro adoption, and the government currently hopes it will join the Eurozone at the beginning of 2023.
Bulgaria is also aiming for euro adoption, though little progress has been made this year, which has been marked by months of political uncertainty amid the repeated failure to form a new government.
“[A]fter Croatia and Bulgaria, it is likely to remain quiet on
the euro enlargement front for a very long time. From the perspective of the remaining current potential euro candidates – Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Romania – economic arguments, albeit from different angles, for accession are not convincing
at present,” wrote Raiffeisen economists in a comment for
bne IntelliNews earlier the year.
Serbian media tycoon takes over Southampton football club
Eldar Dizdarevic in Sarajevo
English football club Southampton has changed hands, as Serbian media tycoon Dragan Solak's Sport Republic completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in the club on January 4, both parties have confirmed.
Southampton didn’t share financial details of the deal but according to reports in the British media, Solak, founder and president of the European telecommunications and media company United Group, bought an 80% stake in Southampton for £100mn (€120mn).
Sport Republic acquired the stake from Chinese real estate magnate Gao Jisheng, who has controlled the club since 2017.
Katharina Liebherr, who inherited a stake in the club from her billionaire father Markus Liebherr, will hold onto her 20% stake.
The statement from Southampton said the club had been searching for “the right partner” to take the club forward for two years, after Gao started looking to exit his investment.
“Today we welcome a new beginning with a new ownership group. We have found partners with ambition for the future, but with a clear understanding of what Southampton stands for and the direction we must go in now. The strategy is to push forward with the plans we have had in place over the last two years, but with their support we can now do this with a renewed focus and speed. Continuity, stability, and clarity of the way forward are equally as important as the new initiatives and ideas we can now bring to the club,” the statement said.
Solak is a Serbian media tycoon, who first entered business
in 1990, set up motion picture production and distribution company VANS. He began building his business empire in 1992 when he moved from Belgrade first to Ljubljana and then to
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Prague. He founded Serbia Broadband (SBB) which later grew into United Group
He helped the Serbian opposition overthrow Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. In Serbia, he is linked to opposition leader Dragan Djilas, although Solak claims that while they are friends they have never done business together. That is why almost every day some of the pro-regime tabloids, close to President Aleksandar Vucic, mention Solak in a negative context in their articles.
United Group, which has been majority owned by private investment firm BC Partners since March 2019, holds media rights to show the Premier League in much of the Balkans, including Serbia, this season.
However, state rival Telekom Srbija is due to take over the rights from the 2022/23 season in a six-season contract.
In Serbia, business clashes between United Group and state- owned Telekom Srbija have escalated into what analysts call Serbia's first cable war.