The deal on the sale of 202,788 shares was signed today, according to the press release from Pivovarna Laško, which refused to disclose the buyer. Unofficially, the publisher Medici is the company of Andre Warnecke, who has served as an advisor to the management of Delo.

The STA learned that the starting price in the negotiations was EUR 6.5m, however, the buyer managed to negotiate it down to EUR 5.1m.

Delo said in a press release said that its supervisory board had approved the deal beforehand. With the suspensive condition in place, the contract will only be valid after Medici meets the undisclosed conditions stipulated in the deal.

Once this happens, Pivovarna Laško will inform its shareholders of the sale, while Delo has already submitted the deal for approval to the Agency for the Protection of Competition, the publisher also said.

Večer journalists and management are reserved in their comments about the most recent development. The journalists expressed hope that the deal was signed with a strategic buyer, who has a clear vision for the daily, intends to consolidate the company, develop its products and invest in human resources.

They expect the buyer to introduce itself soon and present a development plan for the company and added that they would strive for a quality product regardless of who the owner is.

Meanwhile, Večer general manager Jure Struc said that he had only learnt of the deal today and that the sale was above all a matter for the owners.

Delo has been trying to sell Večer since 2009, when the Competition Protection Office said that the concentration of capital in the newspaper and advertising sector held by Delo was too high. Delo was ordered to sell a 75% stake in Večer within a year.

Following the first international call, Delo signed in June 2010 a sales contracts with 3Lan, a small Slovenian IT company. However, the Culture Ministry deemed the management strategy submitted by 3Lan inappropriate and the deal was called off.

The second international call was issued March 2011. Interest was shown by several companies, including Medici, but no deal was concluded.