0

On 2nd April, Manager magazine published a list of the 100 richest Slovenes and set the country talking about the rich and the super rich once again; debunking the myths the general public usually has about the wealthy. The list of 100 richest Slovenes was formed through the analysis of a particular company's balance sheet; while the stock values of the companies quoted on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange are accurate as of 8th January 2008; the magazine neglected private wealth, luxury items, real estate, etc.

The threshold of entering the list of 100 Richest Slovenes was raised from last year's EUR 7.3 million to EUR 11.0 million since the overall wealth of the people on the list increased by 75%, amounting to EUR 4.02 billion (last year: EUR 2.29 billion).

The first three remain the same as last year, only the positions of the 2nd and 3rd have been changed. Last year's richest woman in Slovenia was Alenka Žnidaršič who was 14th but is this 24th this year, and was surpassed by the 4th placed Danijela Rakovič.

The fantastic five

1st place: Mirko Tuš, EUR 550 million. Mirko Tuš, a.k.a. "the phantom from Celje", dubbed as such for his pronounced dislike for appearing in the media, is the richest Slovene the second year running with an estimated wealth of EUR 550 million, which he more than doubled over last year, although only in part due to the growth of his franchise. The higher number is largely due to more liberal evaluation and the announced entry on the stock market. Tuš started his empire from scratch, successfully fought with much bigger players in the field of commerce and has gradually expanded his business to cover real estate, telecommunications, mobile telephony and the internet, warding off political pressures all the while.

2nd place: Igor Lah, EUR 250.3 million. Igor Lah, whose empire is known for being a system of long or short duration companies, built one of the first privatisation companies in the early '90s and is currently the owner of the MNP2 group. His wealth increased from EUR 145 million to EUR 250.3 million last year, which represents a 70% increase, which Lah, a computer scientist and a former competitive dancer, sees as a result of good business practice.

3rd place: Darko Horvat, EUR 236.9 million. Darko Horvat amassed his wealth by setting up the Aktiva Company, which was intended to help retirees get work. He soon changed his mind and reorganised the company (selling and commerce), after which he established several others and linked them with companies outside Slovenia. He currently lives abroad and controls his fortune through the Dutch Aktiva Holding, which squeezed out small shareholders from Aktiva Invest last year. Horvat's fortune hardly changed in comparison to last year.

4th place: Danijela Rakovič, EUR 146.1 million. One of the biggest mysteries of this year's top 100 list is the 4th place publicly unknown stock broker Danijela Rakovič. Some people have said that she is most likely just a temporary owner of Kolonel, the company that owns Center Naložbe, which in turn owns Laško Brewery. And what is Kolonel? Some say it is a company acting on behalf of someone else, yet Danijela Rakovič, otherwise employed by Probanka, is, at least on paper, the richest woman in Slovenia.

5th place: Dari and Vesna Južna, EUR 145.8 million. The fifth in the list, Dari and Vesna Južna, jumped 10 places over last year. The married couple owns the Perspektiva business group, which has been well known since a quick response in relation to the purchase of shares of Union Brewery at the start of the takeover war and good connections with some of the major institutional investors, making Dari Južna a very important player in the financial industry.

Top 10 runners-up

Last year's fourth richest Slovene is this year's sixth richest Slovene: Joc Pečečnik. He earned the bulk of his fortune in the gambling field by making the first generation of electronic roulette wheels and also established a company for the manufacturing and distribution of gaming machines. He regularly appears in the media and also actively participates in a number of sports projects.

Igor Akrapovič is formerly Slovenia's most successful motorcyclist. Unable to find a good-enough exhaust system for his motorbike, he made it himself and became a very successful businessman. His company, which recently also tackled the car market, is a well-established brand in the European motor world.

Branko Drobnak is the CEO of Poteza, a group managing a large portion of the LJSE brokerage, which also handles domestic and foreign assets as well as being involved in investment banking and pension insurance.

Once a year Tomaž Lovše brings world-famous celebrities to Slovenia (such as Andie MacDowell, Paulo Coelho and top model Naomi Campbell). In the '90s, he began handling reorganisations of companies and forced settlements. His biggest achievement is selling Diners Adriatic Club, which made the bulk of his fortune, yet his active role in the expansion of the Diners Club Slovenia, although not particularly lucrative, increases his media recognition and opens new business opportunities.

The list of the top ten richest Slovenes is rounded off by the owner of the Sportina Group, Bahtijar Bajrovič. In last year's list, he was17th and he managed to enter the coveted top 10 on account of his company recording remarkable 2007 growth. Bajrovič's future goals include entering the field of tourism and opening up a chain of coffee shops.

Criticism quieter

Interestingly enough, when the list of top 100 richest Slovenes hit the stands last year, many on the list tried to avoid being mentioned in the first place for fear that such media exposure would endanger their security and families as well as eliciting a negative response from the community and their employees. Many also worried what the neighbours would say, yet such fears proved unjustifiable as the public criticism was relatively quiet after the first few months and those that made the list last year had no objections on being put on the list this year.

The biggest jump was recorded by Ivan Zidar of SCT who, by increasing his ownership stake at SCT and Glotis, increased his estimated wealth fivefold, reaching the 19th spot after being 88th last year. Many others have improved their positions due to more successful business practices, e.g. Bahtijar Bajrović the owner of the Sportina Group, who tripled the value of his company. It is interesting to note that there are many financiers among the top 30, while another lucrative profession seems to be commerce. With fewer objections and much less controversy than was raised last year, the 2008 richest Slovenes can now bask in the well deserved financial glory as the rest of the hopeful population modestly endeavour to follow in their tracks.