Slovenia moves to block hotel deal linked to Orban ally

Bloomberg

Slovenia’s premier moved to block a controversial deal that would hand a large chunk of the country’s biggest tourism group to a buyer with ties to the family of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Prime Minister Janez Jansa’s cabinet approved a 41.6 million-euro ($47.2 million) boost to the capital of the country’s Sovereign Holding, allowing it to exercise an option to buy the 43.2% stake in Sava dd, which controls hotels spanning the Adriatic coast to the shore of picturesque Lake Bled in the Alps.
Jansa, who like his nationalist Hungarian ally is facing general elections in April, has come under mounting pressure from labour unions and political parties, including one from his own coalition, to use his influence to block the sale in a country known for its reluctance to sell assets to foreign investors. The minority stake in question was held by a private company and the buyer is a Budapest-based company headed by a business partner of Orban’s son-in-law.
“The intent is to consolidate ownership,” Jansa said at a briefing with Orban in Lendava, near the Hungarian border. He said the ultimate goal would be to find a strategic investor. “Slovenia does not have intentions to become the biggest hotelier, like Cuba.”
The issue resonates in Slovenia, where vested interests, a distrust of foreign capital and a string of bad experiences — including the 2019 bankruptcy of former national carrier Adria Airways three years after its sale — have all contributed to a slower pace of privatisation following communism.
Political parties called for
an extraordinary parliamentary meeting for February 28 to demand the state purchase Sava’s minority stake, which would increase Slovenia’s ownership in the holding to 90%.
“Such important tourist infrastructure should be sold transparently, not through the family ties of a neighbouring ruler,” Robert Golob, whose Freedom Movement overtook Jansa’s Democratic Party in the most recent Mediana poll, said.
Until recently, Jansa had tried to keep his distance from the Sava deal, telling lawmakers last month that those who were responsible for past state assets sales are now “pointing the finger at this government.”
The transaction has gained controversy because of who
is involved. Under the proposal, Budapest-based Prestige Tourism would buy York Capital Management’s stake for a reported 38 million euros. Prestige Tourism declined to comment on the potential purchase price.
The chief executive and minority owner of the Hungarian company, which was set up last year, is a business partner of Istvan Tiborcz, Orban’s son-in-law.
Orban, speaking alongside Jansa, declined to comment on the Sava deal but said he favoured a “good strategic partnership” between Hungary and Slovenia.