Serbian regulator tells BIRN it has allowed the sale of domestic media outlets within Adria News Network – including N1 and Nova – to European Future Media, which is managed by the same parent company as Euronews.
Amid a process that has raised questions about media pluralism and independence, Serbia’s competition regulator told BIRN on Thursday that it had given the green light to the sale of the country’s most prominent government-critical media outlets.
As a result, the N1 and Nova S television stations, Danas newspaper and Radar magazine will come under the same ownership umbrella as Euronews, whose majority owner is Alpac Capital, a Portuguese investment firm.
The concentration involving European Future Media Investments S.C.S
“The concentration involving European Future Media Investments S.C.S. and Adra News S.a r.l. was notified to the Commission for Protection of Competition on 8 June 2026. Following the conducted proceedings, the notified concentration was approved,” it is said.
The decision has yet to be published on the Commission’s website.
United Group told BIRN late on Wednesday that it had transferred its news businesses in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia to European Future Media, a Luxembourg-based fund backed by Alpac Capital.
“The remaining steps, including the transfer of the Luxembourg licences for the N1 and Nova S channels and the transfer of certain United Group interests in Montenegro, will follow in line with the terms of the agreement conditional upon the receipt of requisite regulatory approvals,” United Group said.
Montenegro’s Commercial Court in mid-August temporarily blocked planned
Montenegro’s Commercial Court in mid-August temporarily blocked planned changes to the ownership and management structure of TV Vijesti.
On Tuesday, Alpac Capital’s CEO Pedro Vargas David said that his company had received all the required permits from the Bosnian authorities for the acquisition of the N1 and Nova outlets there.
Serbian website Raskrikavanje reported on Wednesday that United Group stated in an internal memo to management that the sale of several media outlets was “substantially implemented” on August 24.
On August 18, before the ownership was transferred,
On August 18, before the ownership was transferred, Pedro Vargas Santos David was registered as director of four companies – Adria News, United Media Digital, Adria News Nova S, and Dan Graf, the companies that run N1 and other media outlets in Serbia. The sitting directors were dismissed.
The European Federation of Journalists and Serbian civil society organisationshave all voiced concerns about the sale of the media outlets, with the EFJ warning of a potential impact on “media pluralism, editorial independence [and] public opinion”.
The timing of the sale, with the parliamentary elections in Serbia likely before the end of the year, has also triggered alarms. United Group’s outlets had been among the few which published critical opinions of President Aleksandar Vucic and his governing Serbian Progressive Party, SNS.
Alpac Capital acquired a majority stake
Alpac Capital acquired a majority stake in the pan-European news channel Euronews in 2022. French newspaperLe Monde reportedin 2024 that this takeover was partly financed by funds linked to the then Hungarian leader Viktor Orban.
Alpac CEO Vargas David’s comments on Wednesday will not have reassured those who would like the former UnitedGroup outlets to continue their robust, government-critical editorial line. In an open letter to Serbia’s Information and Telecommunications MinisterBoris Bratina, Vargas David wrote that he wanted a return to “non-activist” journalism.
“When news organisations believe that they are the news, and their mission is not to report on the news but to be the news, they enter the arena; they become part of the game. With this come the attacks from politicians, the boycotts, the aggressiveness. When journalists use their platform to share an agenda, they change the nature of their profession,” Vargas David wrote.
Vargas David’s letter followed a call by Serbian minister Bratina for Alpac Capital to register its new acquisitions with Serbia’s media regulator, REM.
Source: balkaninsight.com
