Matijevic: We Are Interested in Purchasing Hotel Slavija, Decision Depends on Offer

The co-owner of the Matijevic company, Bojan Matijevic, has said that this family business will buy out the documentation for taking part in the auction where the state is to offer 100% of the capital of Hotel Slavija in Belgrade.

– As businessmen, we are interested in purchasing anything that’s up for sale. We will buy out the documentation for Hotel Slavija and then we will decide whether to take part in the auction in a day or two, when we examine it – said Matijevic, one of the sons of the businessman Petar Matijevic who run the company.

He added that they couldn’t make the final decision before they saw the property of the hotel and the conditions, because many things “are not known”.

Matijevic said that their Hotel Centar Beograd in the Republic Square operated well and that the company wanted to unify the symbols of Belgrade by purchasing Hotel Slavija if possible.

He said that the hotels owned by the company operated well and that the capacity of Hotel Beograd Centar was 90% filled out and that the hotels Aleksandar, Centar Novi Sad and Ribarsko Ostrvo were also 90% filled out, and that Hotel Vojvodina in Zrenjanin was 70% filled out.

Bids to be opened on November 28

The Ministry of Economy of Serbia has opened the call for the sale of the 100% state share in Hotel Slavija through the public bidding method, at the initial price, which is equal to the estimated value of the capital of EUR 24.9 million. Applications for taking part in the procedure are to be submitted by November 24, and the opening of the bids will take place on November 28.

The qualification requirements for taking part in the public bidding for a company is that it had an operating income of at least EUR 50 million in 2022 on its own and that it had an operating and net profit in 2022 on its own.

If it wants to take part in the bidding, an investment fund has to have total assets worth at least EUR 250 million in 2022, whereas a natural person has to have monetary funds of at least EUR 25 million.

Hotel Slavija in privatization process since 2005

Hotel Slavija has three facilities within it, with a total area of nearly 29,000 m2, in one of the best locations in Belgrade, on the Slavija Square, and is located in close proximity to the Church of Saint Sava and Terazije.

Hotel Slavija has been in the privatization process since 2005, when it was extracted from JAT. As the Danas daily reported, last year, the hotel had pre-taxation losses of RSD 14.6 million, and the final loss amounted to close to RSD 8 million, according to the company’s annual report for 2022.

Slavija Luks sold to Matijevic company five years ago

Although the hotel has been in the privatization process for nearly 10 years, a part of Hotel Slavija, Slavija Luks, was sold five years ago to the Matijevic company in an entirely different kind of procedure. The public notary put Slavija Luks up for sale in 2018 based on the hotel’s alleged debt of EUR 2 million toward the Austrian company Fil-Sar, belonging to the controversial Montenegrin businessman Branislav Sarovic, who was murdered in 2009. After the Arbitration Council made a verdict in favor of this company which had allegedly lent money to Slavija, there was even an auction, but the Commercial Court annulled the decision of the Arbitration Council.

The enforcement officer determined the value of the hotel on three occasions, first at EUR 4 million, and then at EUR 5.9 million following a reaction from the management of Slavija. Finally, the estimate of the court surveyor, valuing the hotel at EUR 9.4 million, was adopted. At the auction, the initial price was 70% of the estimated value, that is, EUR 6.53 million. At this price, a square meter in Hotel Slavija Luks was worth EUR 940.

The winner at the auction was the owner of the Matijevic company, Petar Matijevic, that is, his company MAT Real Estate, which immediately paid the deposit of EUR 6 million, but the Commercial Court pronounced the sale invalid.