Government against its own administration: BH Telecom's three-year plan rejected, Telemach acquisition questionable

The representative of the Government of the Federation of BiH at the repeated (extraordinary) General Meeting of BH Telecom shareholders, held on April 9th this year, rejected BH Telecom's Three-Year Business Plan, thus jeopardizing the plan to acquire Telemach in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

A total of 7,775 shareholders, with 63,457,358 shares, were eligible to participate and vote. Ten shareholders/proxies representing 57,833,420 shares, which constitutes 91 percent of the total voting shares, registered to attend the meeting. The majority owner of BH Telecom is the Government of FBiH, with a 90 percent stake, making the vote of its representative decisive.

The session could not be held for a long period due to a lack of quorum, and because of the absence of the FBiH Government's representative, writes Istraga.ba

“'For' the Adoption of the Decision on the Approval of the Three-Year Business Plan of BH Telecom Sarajevo Joint Stock Company for the period from 01.01.2025 to 31.12.2027 was voted by 238,960 shares or 0.4132%. 'Against' was voted by 57,194,593 shares or 98.8982%,” according to the report published on the BH Telecom website.



This decision by the shareholders jeopardized the plan to acquire Telemach, a process formally initiated in January this year with a request to the Competition Council of BiH. The plan was for BH Telecom to take over Telemach BiH and Telemach Montenegro, thereby expanding the Bosnian company's operations beyond its borders. The current director of BH Telecom, Amel Kovačević, who is leading the Telemach acquisition process, was appointed by the current FBiH Government, indicating disagreements within the entity government itself on this issue, given that the FBiH Government's representative blocked the Three-Year Business Plan.

An additional problem for BH Telecom regarding the plan to acquire Telemach in BiH and Montenegro are the reshuffles within Telemach itself, where in June, United Group's founder and co-owner Dragan Šolak was replaced from the position of chairman of the advisory board, as was Victoria Boklag, who held the position of CEO.

Šolak has since requested the Dutch Chamber of Commerce Court of Appeal in Amsterdam to launch an investigation due to what he described as a serious management crisis. He stated that he and Boklag were dismissed as an act of “revenge” because he had previously sued his former partner, the company BC Partners, for failing to pay him his share from the sale of companies in Serbia.

In response to all this, directors and editors of regional media operating within United Group have issued a statement in a letter sent to BC Partners.

“This decision has caused serious concern among journalists and editors across our media network. From the very beginning, Šolak has been a consistent and principled advocate for independent journalism in the Balkans. In an environment of constant and coordinated attacks from regimes with authoritarian tendencies, especially in Serbia, Šolak has provided unwavering support and protection for editorial independence, even under immense political and economic pressure,” the letter states.

The letter was signed by the directors of N1 television and Nova's regional centers, as well as the chief editors of these media outlets, and also Danas, Radar, and Vijesti, which operate within United Group.