Gujanicic: Purchase of ownership of Russian companies in NIS would cost Serbia up to EUR 1.5 billion

through Croatia to NIS’s refineries in Novi Sad and Pancevo) The purchase of a majority stake or the entire ownership of the Russian companies Gazprom and Gazprom Neft in Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), as one of the possible solutions for avoiding potential sanctions from the USA and Great Britain, could cost Serbia from several hundred million euros to EUR 1.5 billion, the head broker at the brokerage house Momentum, Nenad Gujanicic, said today.

– The value of NIS, according to the prices of the shares on the Belgrade Stock Exchange, which fell by around 10 percent in two days, has dropped below one billion euros. The market value of NIS on the stock exchange has varied in the past few years between one billion and 1.3 billion, but the current prices of the shares on the Belgrade Stock Exchange should not be taken for granted – Gujanicic said today for the Beta news agency.

He adds that the price is not realistic, due to the extremely non-liquid market of the Belgrade Stock Exchange, where the trading is extremely small, and that, in the case of the opening of a tender for the sale of NIS, the price would be EUR 2.5 to 3 billion, and maybe even higher in the case of a stronger competition.

Since 2022, the owners of NIS are the Russian company Gazprom Neft with 50%, the second biggest stakeholder is the state of Serbia – 29.87%, Gazprom owns 6.15%, and the biggest owner among the small stakeholders is the custody account of OTP Bank, with 1.61% of the shares.

None of the remaining stakeholders has even 1% of the ownership, and among them are also the citizens of Serbia, who own five shares each.

The sanctions of the EU, and now also the announced sanctions of the USA toward Russia and its companies, are caused by that country’s aggression toward Ukraine. The possibility of imposing sanctions against NIS due to the ownership of Russian companies in that company was announced by President Vucic three days ago.

He said that he had not seen the official document, but that he had learned that the USA and Great Britain would introduce sanctions against the Russian companies, co-owners of NIS, by banning the transport of crude oil by Jadranski naftovod (Janaf) through Croatia from the Port of Omisalj to NIS’s refineries in Novi Sad and Pancevo.

The US ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, has neither confirmed nor denied the decision on the sanctions, but he has said that this risk has been there for a long time.

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

Predsedništvo Republike Srbije

HIP-Petrohemija a.d. Pančevo

Momentum Securities a.d. Novi Sad

Beogradska berza a.d. Beograd

Ambasada SAD Beograd

Naftna industrija Srbije

NIS

Presidency of Serbia

Petrohemija

Gazprom

Gazprom Neft

Momentum

Belgrade Stock Exchange

US Embassy in Serbia

Aleksandar Vučić

Nenad Gujaničić

Christopher Hill

USA sanctions

sanctions against NIS

Jadranski naftovod

JANAF

oil

oil pipeline

NIS shares

South Stream

Banatski dvor gas pipeline