NKBM Sells Delo Revije Brands

16. 08. 2011

NKBM Sells Delo Revije Brands


The NKBM bank, the main creditor of Slovenia's biggest magazine publisher Delo Revije, sold the publisher's brands to KBM Leasing, a member of the NKBM group, at the opening bid of EUR 10.14m, the law firm which carried out the auction on Thursday said in a press release.

 

 

 

According to Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & partnerji, KBM Leasing was the only company attending the auction, at which the bank sold a package of brands of popular magazines that were provided as loan collateral.

"NKBM is a bank and as such is pursuing its primary economic interest, with which it wants to get back the assets it had lent," the bank said, adding that it could not and would not deal with publishing.

The bank said it would take by September all necessary business measures "which will on the one hand protect the economic interest of the bank, and enable long-term and undisturbed publication of the brands and preserve jobs on the other".

While the shop steward at Delo Revije Alma Sedlar said the staff was satisfied with the outcome of the auction for the time being, the Journalists' Association (DNS) expressed disappointment. The auction "is but a continuation of the farce we have been witnessing for months...the transfer of brands to a NKBM subsidiary only spruces up the bank's balance sheets while failing to solve the staff's problems".

 

The bank could have ended the agony of Delo revije months ago by seizing the shares and transferring claims into ownership stakes, the DNS said in a written statement. The association believes that the bank has shown "ingenuity in establishing models that will enable future media owners to avoid settling overdue liabilities".

Slovenia's second biggest bank had called the auction as over EUR 30m of its outstanding loans to Delo Revije, with the brands serving as collateral, has not been paid.

 

A total of 44 brands were auctioned off, including brands of popular magazines Lady, Jana, Nasa zena, Obrazi, as well as licences for the Viktor media award and the Woman of the Year award.

 

Delo Revije faced liquidity problems after it was taken over by Monera in 2008, the company of the publisher's CEO Matej Rascan. The loan taken out by Monera to complete the takeover was transferred onto Delo Revije.

The bank accounts of both Delo Revije and Monera have been blocked since the end of June and the publisher is pending a court mandated debt settlement. The publisher has been unable to pay the salaries and social security contributions for its employees in the past months.

 

SOURCE: Sloveniatimes

 

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