Grandson of Šime Krasić Acquires Cotton Industry Duga Resa

The Cotton Industry Duga Resa was sold at today’s public auction at the Commercial Court in Karlovac to the Zagreb company “Prave nekretnine” d.o.o. for a bid of 16.8 million kuna.

The starting price and other conditions were the same as during the first public auction in July 2009, when the Duga Resa entrepreneur Josip Martišković, owner of Kontex, bid a price of 19.7 million kuna. Since the payment of the agreed amount was not made after his appeal and a seven-month legal entanglement with Kontex as the unsuccessful buyer, the outcome was the annulment and announcement of a new auction. “Prave nekretnine” was represented at the auction by their founder and director Luka Ivančić, a 20-year-old grandson of the Chief State Auditor Šime Krasić, and ultimately emerged as the winner in the bidding against two other bidders – the consortium Textile Finishing Center established by the Sock Factory Jadran from Zagreb, the thread factory Unitas from Zagreb, and Galeb from Omiš, as well as the company “Enerom” from Sesvetski Kraljevac, owned by Michael Frederick Rogić.

Unlike Ivančić, whose company is not even formally registered for any textile production, the strongest competitors, Vinko Barišić from Jadran and Ivo Bedalov from Unitas, emphasized before they withdrew that their goal was to turn the Cotton Industry into the strongest finishing and manufacturing textile center in the wider region, and that they had the general support of the Government of the Republic of Croatia for such a plan. However, in the end, after countless consultations in the hallway and discussions with competitors, they left the Cotton Industry to a company with a capital of 20 thousand kuna. More importantly, behind “Prave nekretnine” as an obvious intermediary is actually Stjepan-Stipe Pavić, who was present at the auction. Pavić only indirectly stated after the auction that he is the one who should fulfill the conditions imposed by the tender, which include the continuation of textile production, the employment of at least 100 workers in the first year, and financing ecological standards and technology.

According to Višnja Pavlić, the commissioner of the Textile, Footwear, Leather and Rubber Union in the Cotton Industry, Pavić, as the owner of GT Glastex Handels, GmbH from Klagenfurt, was a long-time supplier of cotton yarn for Cotton, had a mortgage on the separated Cotton facility in Generalski Stol, and collected his claim of over half a million kuna plus interest from the current revenues of Cotton in bankruptcy, after which the mortgage on the separated facility was lifted.

Young Ivančić did not want to comment on the auction or make any statement about how he would, of course, organize production and meet all other conditions if he pays the bid price within the legal deadline, while Stipe Pavić briefly stated that he would start production and continue to develop it in accordance with the conditions from the tender. For now, it remains unknown why Stipe Pavić did not directly come forward as a bidder and competitor at the auction, and we remind that at the previous auction he was prevented from participating because he did not timely present proof of payment of the deposit. Ivo Bedalov from Unitas, disappointed with the tender conditions, stated that he would rather focus on purchasing Dalmatinka nova in Sinj, for which he claims to have offered seven million kuna and that with the employment of 200 workers he can revive production.  (Mladen Volarić)