According to a recently adopted law, the preferred shares held by the state pension and disability fund in about 100 local private companies will be converted into common stock. Thus the state fund will gain voting rights in those companies, which include oil refinery OKTA (4.2% stake), heating utility Toplifikacija (4.7%), trade company Skopski Pazar (4.62%), fuel distributor Makpetrol (5.25%), confectionery Evropa (3.72%), cigarette maker TKP Prilep (8.02%) and construction companies Granit (7.73%) and Beton (5.38%) among others.
That change has been made in order to increase the value of the state shareholding in those companies. The available data suggests that there will not be radical changes in the voting rights distribution, as the stakes held by the state fund are small. The fund has obtained the preferred shares from the privatization agency during the process of privatization.
