TV Slovenija and business paper Finance reported that offers had been submitted by Bosnian businessmen Nijaz Hastor and Italian investment fund Palladio Finanziaria.

But Finance says that the seller, the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC), is not very happy with the offers.

Hastor, best known in Slovenia for his role in the bankruptcy of the once flagship car seat cover maker Prevent, is said to have lowered the price compared to the non-binding offer made late last year, the paper reports.

Palladio Finanziaria is interested only in Cimos assets in Slovenia, Bosnia and Serbia, but not Croatia.

The privatisation of Cimos, launched in August 2015, has been beset by delays as the deadline for bids was pushed forward several times.

The latest snag came last week, when it was revealed a court in Croatia had issued a temporary injunction seizing some of Cimos's assets in Croatia over outstanding debt to a Croatian bank stemming from the late 1990s.

The company plans to challenge the injunction and insists it does not affect the privatisation procedure.

Cimos was brought back from the brink of bankruptcy in a EUR 169m debt-to-equity swap earlier this year which brought it under majority state ownership.

The company posted a EUR 25.3m net loss in 2015 on sales of EUR 385m.