United Group rejects founder’s claim company in ‘jeopardy’ amid legal battle
South-east Europe media giant United Group is embroiled in a legal row with its billionaire founder Dragan Šolak after he was ousted from the company last month.
The company, majority-owned by BC Partners, announced in mid-June that Šolak and CEO Victoriya Boklag would be stepping down, with Stan Miller appointed as new CEO and Libor Voncina as his deputy.
This came after Šolak, owner of UK football club Southampton FC and a minority shareholder in United Group, escalated a legal battle with international private equity fund BC Partners, which acquired United Group in 2019.
Šolak claims BC Partners owes him and his business partners €200m (US$232m) in bonuses and asked Dutch authorities to investigate what he has called a “serious governance crisis” at United, which is headquartered in the Netherlands.
Šolak alleged his dismissal was “revenge” for the legal action in London against BC Partners for the non-payment of bonuses and said BC Partners had rejected his management buyout offer.
“BC Partners’ unilateral decision to impose new leadership, suddenly and without notice to staff or shareholders, on a highly complex business operating across multiple jurisdictions is in breach of Dutch law and puts United Group’s future and value in jeopardy,” Šolak said.
“We have reasonable doubts whether the newly appointed management will be able to run United Group for the benefit of all stakeholders and produce results similar to ours. We will be monitoring the performance of the new management team very closely and will fight for our rights and the preservation of the value of our equity.”
However, the Dutch Enterprise Chamber has rejected Šolak’s request for urgent consideration of his claims, which United Group said “solely serve the interests of Šolak, and not United Group.”
It is expected the court will set a date for a hearing in October or November. United Group said it is “confident” Šolak’s claims will be thrown out by the court.
“United Group BV rejects his claims and assertions and has explained the court that there is no basis for urgently considering this matter. Current management of the group is highly capable of running United Group. New CEO Mr Stan Miller and deputy CEO Mr Libor Voncina both have extensive experience in executive positions in the telecom and media sectors,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
When it announced the leadership change last month, United Group said the appointment of Miller as CEO and Voncina as deputy CEO reflected the group’s strategic shift towards European Union (EU) markets.
This came after it sold assets including Serbian pay TV, broadband internet and fixed telephone services provider SBB to e& PPF Telecom Group and sports broadcasting rights for the western Balkans to Serbian telecoms and cable TV operator Telekom Srbija. The combined value of the deals was put at almost €1.5bn.
United Group said the deals complete its strategic objective of exiting and monetising its non-EU telco assets, with no further sales planned in the immediate future.
Its media arm, United Media, recently acquired a 50% equity stake in Greek commercial network Alpha TV as it looks to strengthen its presence in the European market.
Founded in Serbia in 2000 by Šolak, United Group started as a small cable company and now describes itself as the leading independent media and communication services provider across South-east Europe.
United Media has a presence in countries including Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The company has more than 60 TV channels within its portfolio and creates around 40,000 hours of original content each year.
