Kostic acquiring hotels owned by Istrabenz aided by Merrill Lynch bank?

(Miodrag Kostic) The Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) is planning to buy out the receivables of the ruined Istrabenz holding or Istrabenz Turizam by the state-owned “bad bank” DUTB, Finance writes.

The newspaper writes that Merrill Lynch intends to buy out the receivables towards Istrabenz, that is, Istrabenz Turizam, from the York fund and Elements Capital.

According to Finance information, Miodrag Kostic, who has claimed that he wishes to strengthen his position in the Slovenian tourism sector on several occasions, actually wants to take over the company's hotels with the help from Merrill Lynch.

Kostic owns the Kempinski hotel in Portoroz and is a co-owner of Gorenjska Banka. There are speculations that Kostic might be interested in Marina Portoroz and the Portoroz Airport, which is co-owned by Istrabenz.

In DUTB, however, they claim that around EUR 50 million of receivables toward Istrabenz and around EUR 20 million of receivables toward Istrabenz Turizam have not yet been sold and that no sales procedure is being carried out at the moment. They also claim that they have not received any offers for the said receivables.

MK Group d.o.o. Beograd

Istrabenz d.d. Koper

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. New York

Miodrag Kostic

Slovenian Sovereign Holding SSH

Istrabenz

Istrabenz Turizam

DUTB Slovenia

Merrill Lynch

York fund

Elements Capital

Kempinski hotel Portoroz

Gorenjska Banka Slovenia

Marina Portoroz

Portoroz Airport