Bloomberg: BC Partners Faces Managers' Unrest at €6 Billion Media Company

Fourteen United executives wrote a letter to the board earlier this week voicing their “deep concerns regarding the recent leadership changes” and demanding “immediate action to reinstate” the pair, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg News. Founder Dragan Šolak, who was chairman of the advisory board, and CEO Viktoriya Boklag were dismissed in June.

Jan Willem De Groot, a lawyer for Šolak at law firm Houthoff in Amsterdam, said the letter is “a full-scale vote of no confidence from the entire leadership of a company of this size” which “is unprecedented in shareholder proceedings in the Netherlands”, agency reports.

The missive marks an escalation in the long-running feud between Šolak, who owns English football club Southampton FC, and the London-based asset manager and threatens to affect a business valued at about €6 billion ($7 billion) after the sale of some assets earlier this year. The spat became public when the founder sued the holding company in the UK, alleging he hadn’t been paid a €200 million bonus owed as part of a 2023 agreement with the company, and then in the Netherlands over his dismissal.

When his board adviser contract wasn’t renewed in June, Šolak was told by the company that the bonus, linked to the sale of parts of the business for about €1.5 billion, would be paid, according to people familiar with the matter.

The founder’s complaints “solely serve the interests of Šolak, and not United Group,” the media company said in a statement published last week on its website.

Representatives for Šolak, Boklag and BC Partners declined to comment. An official at United didn’t return calls and emails seeking comment, Bloomberg reports.

Šolak started the company in his home town in Serbia in 2000 and, with the help of private equity funding, turned the enterprise into a firm with units in Greece, Bulgaria and most other Balkan countries. In the last year, he tried to buy BC Partners out of the company but his offers have been rejected, the people said. United hired former Royal KPN NV executive Stan Miller as chief executive officer and Libor Voncina as his deputy to replace Solak and Boklag.

The managers’ letter, whose authors include the chief financial officer and chief operating officer, claims the “sudden and unprepared regime change was not only a random but also a very irresponsible decision – and thus an existential threat to United Group and its businesses.”

Vladislav Ratajac, head of mergers and acquisitions at the company, left the company, according to separate people familiar with the matter. Two members of the United Group BV board submitted their resignation from their role because of the management changes but they remain employed by the firm, the people said.

Many of the United Group managers have been working closely with Solak for years. The founder continues to have a minority stake in the business through his company Gerrard MIP, giving him sole responsibility for awarding shares to United managers in the incentive plan, separate people familiar said. The program was established when United was created and remained in place after the BC Partners acquisition, they said.

A request to expedite the Dutch case was initially dismissed by the court, but a first hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 16 in Amsterdam, the people said.