Belgrade, September 12 (Beta) - Serbian Economy and Privatisation Minister Aleksandar Vlahovic said on Wednesday that an announcement seeking financial advisors for the privatisation of 11 more Serbian companies would be published in the Financial Times next week.

- The companies in question are divided into three groups: food and beverage, agricultural, and wood and timber industries - Vlahovic said at today's meeting of the Serbian Parliament Finance Committee.

He said that tender privatisation would be launched for 40 enterprises by the end of September, and by year's end 20-30 auction privatisations would be carried out.

- I expect the privatisation process to accelerate next year - Vlahovic said.

He favourably assessed the fact that the selected financial advisor in the tender privatisation of three Serbian cement plants, the London-based HSBC Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, was getting 0.695% of the value of a successful deal.

- If a deal fails, they provide their advisory services free - Vlahovic said, adding that the commissions for the sale of a part of Telecom Serbia amounted to 3%, to 2% in Montenegro, and have been 2-3% elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Regarding privatisation initiatives carried out or initiated under the old Privatisation Act, Vlahovic said that 104 claims had been submitted for the examination of regularity of privatisations. The commission in charge has so far found that 5 enterprises conducted irregular privatisation procedures.

He also said that 300 resolutions had been passed for the correction of certain minor omissions in privatisations carried out under the old law.

- I expect that by the end of October we will have done away with the old ownership transformation practices - Vlahovic said.

He also said that a think tank had been set up for talks with UNMIK concerning property ownership identification in Kosovo-Metohija.

-The Republic of Serbia Development Fund is the majority shareholder of some enterprises and we are working on insuring that ownership be unequivocal, and that privatisation be implemented as provided for under the Serbian Privatisation and Share Fund Act - Vlahovic said.

He also said that a head of office for the Kosovo-Metohija Privatisation Agency was expected to be proposed to the Economy and Privatisation Ministry soon.

Asked whether expectations were realistic that the Serbian Privatisation Ministry would manage the privatisation process in Kosovo, Vlahovic replied that under the present law, what was important was who would get the proceeds from privatisation. As the sale of the majority of enterprises in Kosovo was not expected to yield returns, the question did not pose a problem.

- The only thing that matters is that privatisation in Kosovo-Metohija be carried out in accordance with the law.