STA, 8 April 2019 - The tourism company Sava has increased its stake in hotel operator Hoteli Bernardin from 55.77% to 80.81%, while the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) reduced its share from 25% to zero, Hoteli Bernardin said on Monday.
Sava and BAMC have informed Hoteli Bernardin that Sava increased its share to 80.81% or 12,945,214 voting rights on 2 April, while BAMC reduced its share to zero voting rights.
Sava became the majority owner of Hoteli Bernardin, which owns six hotels on the coast, three apartment complexes and a campsite, in mid-February. The takeover was seen as a step in the consolidation of state-owned tourism companies.
Sava, whose main owners are the York Global Finance Offshore fund, Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) and the state-run fund KAD, last year increased its stake in Hoteli Bernardin to 45.39% together with BAMC, the insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav and KAD.
It then acquired another 10% stake from BAMC to raise its stake to 55.77% before increasing it to over 80% last week.
The price for the entire 35.3% stake of BAMC in Hoteli Bernardin was the same as in the takeover offer, meaning EUR 1.26 per share, Sava told the STA today. This means Sava paid EUR 7.14m to BAMC for the stake.
Apart from Sava, Hoteli Bernardin is owned by the state-controlled Zavarovalnica Triglav (3.4%), KAD (0.02%), while a roughly 10% stake is held by Serbian businessman Miodrag Kostić, who got the bulk of his stake through the acquisition of the Gorenjska Banka bank.
The consolidation of the state's ownership of Hoteli Bernardin is seen as another step on the path to a state tourism holding that would control major tourism companies and possibly be sold in the future.
The holding is also to include Sava Turizem, Hit, Thermana, Terme Olimia, Adria Turistično Podjetje and Unitur.
