Wednesday's press release by Hoteli Bernardin says that Sava, a former conglomerate that has recently been focusing on tourism, increased its stake on 13 February.

Sava's efforts to take over Hoteli Bernardin, which owns six hotels on the coast, three apartment complexes and a campsite, began last year.

Sava, whose main owners are the York Global Finance Offshore fund, Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) and the state-run fund KAD, received capital injections of EUR 7.4m in total in 2018, while also selling upon the orders of the central bank its 37.7% stake in Gorenjska Banka for EUR 43.5m.

Before the 13 February acquisition, Sava held 45.45% in Hoteli Bernardin, 35.3% was held by the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) or bad bank, 3.4% by the state-controlled insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav, and roughly 10% by Serbian businessman Miodrag Kostić, who got to the bulk of his stake through the acquisition of Gorenjska Banka.

The consolidation of the state's ownership of Hoteli Bernardin is seen as another step on the path to a state tourism holding that would control major tourism companies and possibly be sold in the future.

Another move came last week as BAMC confiscated shares in Istrabenz Turizem, the owner of six hotels in the coastal town of Portorož, and thereby effectively halted the sale process for the hotels.

The shares, which had been put up as loan collateral by debt-ridden Istrabenz, are meant to be transferred to the new holding.

While it is not yet clear officially which companies will be incorporated into the holding, the newspaper Delo has suggested the list could include Sava Turizem, Hoteli Bernardin, Hit, Thermana, Terme Olimia, Adria Turistično Podjetje and Unitur.

The companies would be managed by SSH, which would get roughly EUR 90m in additional capital for this purpose.