Dubrovnik Belvedere Goes to Auction at a Price of 24.3 Million Euros

The Dubrovnik hotel Belvedere d.d. in bankruptcy will be sold through a public notary auction in Zagreb on November 5 of this year, with a starting price of 24.3 million euros, which is the value of the property according to the assessment of the court expert.

The call for the public auction was published in today’s press by public notary Jožica Matko-Ruždjak, in whose office in Zagreb the auction will take place, at the request of INA as the fiduciary creditor, the previous owner, and based on the provisions of the Enforcement Act (which were in force at the time of the conclusion of the security agreement).

The starting price at the public auction is determined based on the assessment of the court expert and amounts to 24.3 million euros, and according to the invitation, in the first auction, the properties that are the subject of sale cannot be sold for less than two-thirds of the advertised starting price.

The invitation for the public auction also emphasizes that the City Council of Dubrovnik adopted a decision on the detailed development plan for Belvedere on April 6 of this year, so potential buyers are invited to review that plan before the auction.

Additionally, along with the description of the property, registered encumbrances, and liens, legal restrictions are listed, and it is noted that it will be agreed as an essential component of the purchase agreement that all risks in the process of determining the boundaries of the maritime property will be assumed by the buyer.

A public auction for the properties of this Dubrovnik hotel was also announced at the beginning of this year, and at that time the starting price was 126.9 million kuna, but that auction was postponed at the request of the State Attorney’s Office, due to the fact that the properties being sold were also real maritime property.

Familiar with this case, the increase in the starting price for the auction announced for early November compared to the price from March (from about 16.8 to 24.3 million euros) is explained by the adopted detailed development plan for Belvedere, which increased the construction area.

Since 2001, the largest ownership share in the Belvedere hotel of 53.75 percent was held by the Panamanian company Cleostone, backed by Croatian-British entrepreneur Zvonko Stojević, while INA’s share is 31.8 percent.

At the end of 2010, INA initiated enforcement proceedings to collect its claims, and the enforcement is ongoing alongside the bankruptcy initiated by the workers.

Belvedere was once a prestigious Dubrovnik hotel, located in the elite Dubrovnik area of Ploče, and is now dilapidated and among the few unrenovated hotels in Dubrovnik.

Even in the announcements for the auction that was supposed to take place in March, there was speculation about interested parties in purchasing Belvedere, with some renowned hotel chains being mentioned.