The paper deals with the transitory provisions of the Public-Private Partnership Act that strongly interferes with the legal status of the public enterprises in Slovenia. According to this Act, there are merely two options for public enterprises in which there are private equity stakes. A public enterprise can be transformed into a company in accordance with the Companies Act, or the public enterprise status can be retained, provided that the private equity stakes are in a way nullified in the public enterprise, and that only the equity stakes owned by the Republic of Slovenia or local communities remain. The Act expressly refers to an option of terminating the private equity stakes through an own shares fund. By analysing the Companies Act, the author states that in practice, the procedure for acquiring own shares is most relevant due to their withdrawal. Thus, the share capital is reduced. In this case, the companies have two options. In the first option, the companies may withdraw their shares by following a simplified procedure. When doing so, they must have reserved profits at their disposal to use them for this purpose instead of dividing them among shareholders. In the second option, the companies may also withdraw their shares chargeable to quality funds, i.e., fixed-term categories of capital. However, in so doing, they must carry out all the necessary procedures for protecting creditors, which delays the whole transaction.
Keywords: • public-private partnership • public enterprise • own shares • Slovenia
