Minor shareholders want trading in LRH shares to be suspended

The soap opera surrounding Liburnija Riviera Hotels has a new episode. Ten years after the first attempt to resolve the situation, LRH is once again in focus, this time due to minor shareholders who are going public in an effort to protect their rights.

A session of the City Council of Opatija has been announced to accept a settlement and thus annul the agreement from 2007, under which the City is obliged to make an offer to buy back shares at a price of 6,000 kuna. – There is an intention to ‘erase’ the debts and obligations of Opatija, which would be a gross circumvention of the law. We absolutely do not want to allow that – said Dražen Nikolić, president of the Association of Minor Shareholders of LRH. The Association, which currently gathers only about a hundred members out of a total of 1,850 minor shareholders, is fighting for a difference of 150 million kuna.  Namely, minor shareholders will have the opportunity to sell their shares to SN Holding, the majority owner of LRH, which has announced the publication of a takeover offer. However, as it is still unknown at what price they acquired Liburnija, it is not possible to determine the price they will offer to minor shareholders.

– We do not know what situation we are in, we do not know who our partner is. We have nothing against SN Holding. The takeover law protects us, so in such situations we have the right to decide whether we want to remain partners with the new majority owner, and here that right is being grossly violated – says Nikolić, adding that minor shareholders, who hold 23.8 percent of LRH, have been put in a bad situation. The amount they are fighting for, which Opatija would be obliged to pay them, is between 250 and 280 million kuna. In the manner that is currently being attempted, minor shareholders would be paid less than 100 million kuna, thus suffering a loss greater than 150 million kuna.  According to their opinion, the only logical and correct solution, so that everyone is satisfied, is for SN Holding to announce a joint offer with the City of Opatija, and for the company to pay minor shareholders at the price applicable to Opatija. Nikolić announced that the Association will hold a meeting on September 20 to discuss further steps. (T. B., R. R.)