Competition agency opens probe into the Vijesti takeover: a new obstacle for the United Group–Alpac Capital deal

Montenegro’s Agency for the Protection of Competition (AZZK) launched an ex officio investigation procedure on September 15, 2026 to assess the concentration through which the Luxembourg fund European Future Media Investment S.C.S., linked to the Portuguese fund Alpac Capital, aims to acquire 100 percent of the shares of the company Adria News S.à r.l.

Through this acquisition, the fund would take indirect control of TV Vijesti and Daily Press, two of Montenegro’s most influential media outlets. The regulator rejected the request for a fast-track procedure, finding a reasonable suspicion that the transaction could create or strengthen a dominant position and harm effective competition in the Montenegrin media market.

According to official documents, the parties signed the binding contract to close the transaction on August 17, 2026. The AZZK decision can be challenged in an administrative dispute before the Administrative Court within 20 days of its receipt.

Under the law, AZZK must issue its final decision within 125 working days — in practice five to six months — and until then the implementation of the concentration is prohibited. Violating this prohibition is punishable by fines of up to 10 percent of the annual revenues of the companies involved.

The initiative for the investigation was raised by the minority owners, the MDIF fund, with requests filed on May 20 and August 24, 2026, warning about the horizontal and vertical effects of the acquisition on media pluralism. Meanwhile, the Commercial Court lifted the temporary measure for TV Vijesti on September 7, 2026, while Alpac Capital has already taken ownership of all United Group media in Serbia, ahead of the October 25 elections.

Source: Vijesti