PODGORICA – The Commercial Court of Montenegro temporarily blocked the change of ownership of the Podgorica-based company Daily Press, publisher of the Vijesti newspaper and web portal, in the late August, thus preventing the controversial Portuguese investment fund from taking control of the most influential media outlet in Montenegro until the dispute over the right of first refusal is resolved, it was reported by Vijesti web portal today.
The court issued a temporary measure prohibiting the holding of an extraordinary general meeting of the company’s owners, planned for 9 September.
This decision, which was made on 27 August, came after the same court in mid-August stopped an identical corporate maneuver by the majority owner of the sister company, Vijesti Television, the article notes.
This stopped the attempt by the Luxembourg company United Media to bypass the pre-emptive rights of minority shareholders and prepare the ground for the sale of the entire Vijesti media system to the Alpac Capital fund, through the transfer of shares to the affiliated company Adria News.
The proposal for the determination of a temporary measure was submitted by the minority owners, through their attorney-at-law, in proceedings against the majority owner United Media Sarl with a 51% stake and the company Adria News Sarl as a third party. Both companies are owned by the Dutch company United Group, while the ultimate owner is the British investment fund BC Partners.
The main argument of the majority owner, United Media, relied on the provisions of the Daily Press statutes and the Framework Agreement, which allow the transfer of shares to a related party (in this case, the sister company Adria News) without activating the right of first refusal under another provision of the statutes. It obliges all co-owners to first offer their shares to the others, if they intend to sell them to a third party.
The court accepted the argument of the minority shareholders that this transfer cannot be viewed in isolation and took into account the joint public announcement of United Group and Alpac Capital dated 29 May , on the signing of the agreement on the sale of Adria News to this fund, Vijesti remarks.
“For the purpose of deciding on the proposed interim measure, the above circumstances make it likely that control over 51% of the shares will be acquired by a person who is not part of the existing group, without the minority members previously being able to exercise the pre-emptive right they claim to belong to them… The Court finds that there is also a risk that without the imposition of an interim measure, the realization of the proponent’s claims (pre-emptive right) would be thwarted or significantly hampered. The Court finds that the above risk cannot be eliminated solely by the possibility of subsequently challenging the decisions of the assembly or initiating other proceedings”, the Commercial Court explains.
According to the explanation, “the purpose of the interim measure is to preserve the factual situation until the resolution of the disputed relationship between the parties and is aimed exclusively at preventing irreparable damage, as well as securing the claimant’s claims. It does not restrict the company’s regular operations or the powers of its legal representative in transactions that are not related to the disputed change in ownership structure”.
In early August 2026, the Commercial Court of Montenegro temporarily blocked the transfer of a majority stake in Vijesti Television from United Media to the affiliated company Adria News, a move that was meant to clear the way for a sale to the Portuguese fund Alpac Capital. This company, owned by Pedro Vargas David, was officially registered in Serbia’s Business Registers Agency, as the director of Adria News and related entities, replacing previous directors across outlets like N1, Nova S, Danas, and Radar.
