DR&G has advised Chinese company BNBM on a EUR 50 million joint venture in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Doklestic Repic & Gajin law firm has advised Chinese Beijing New Building Materials Public Limited Company (“BNBM”) on a transaction involving the creation of a EUR 50 million-worth joint venture, with a state-owned partner Coal Mine and Thermal Power Plant Ugljevik (in Serbian: Rudnik i Termoelektrana Ugljevik, “RiTE”). RiTE is a subsidiary of the state owned company Electric Power Utility of the Republic of Srpska (in Serbian: Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske, “ERS”).

The joint venture agreement signed between BNBM and RiTE envisages the establishment of a joint venture company in Ugljevik (the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina), which will be co-owned by BNBM (90%) and RiTE (10%). The company will build a factory for the production of gypsum board construction products. The annual output of the factory is projected to be 40 million square meters of gypsum boards for construction industry. The factory will consume the gypsum obtained from flue gas desulfurization systems (FGD Gypsum) of RiTE and is expected to employ around 100 workers.

More than 90% of the gypsum board products will be exported to meet the demand for gypsum board products in the European market, which will increase the local investment, promote the development of local employment and economy. This way, both parties can complement with each other’s strengths and achieve the goals of joint-development.

BNBM is a Chinese company that has a history of over 43 years. As one of the top three gypsum board companies in the world, BNBM currently has nearly 80 gypsum board production lines in China, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Egypt and Thailand, with a production capacity of about 3 billion square meters. In 2021, BNBM overcame the impact of the covid pandemic and achieved a net profit of about 470 million euros. The construction of the plant in cooperation with RiTE is the first project for BNBM in the whole Europe. It will make full use of BNBM’s over 40 years of experience in gypsum board production.

DR&G has advised BNBM on all local law aspects of this transaction. DR&G’s team on this deal was lead by partner Slobodan Doklestic and included also Marko Repic, Aleksandra Stojanovic, Milos Pandzic, Ljubinka Pljevaljcic and Bojan Peulic.

Main legal advisor to BNBM in PR China was SHIHUI PARTNERS law firm, whose team was led by partner Mr. Michael Weng.

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