The Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC), which took control of the hotels operated by ŠC Pohorje following bankruptcy, struck an agreement Monday with spa and hotel operator Terme Maribor on a one-year lease.

The Russian-owned spa operator is expected to assume the lease on 1 December, after which it will gradually reopen the hotels, Terme Maribor director Borut Rojs told the press in Maribor on Tuesday.

"We will open the Arena Hotel in the first half of December, followed by Bolfenk and Videc in the second, so that all hotels will be operational by the Christmas Holidays," said Rojs.

Terme Maribor, which is already the biggest operator of accommodation in Maribor, has already sought out former hotel employees who were laid off following the collapse of ŠC Pohorje to staff the hotels.

Rojs could not say how many people the company will take on once the hotels reopen.

Already operating two hotels on the foothills of Pohorje which are booked to near capacity for the holiday season, Terme Maribor will now focus its marketing activities on filling the leased hotel capacities, he said.

The lease of the hotels comes ten days after Maribor public transport company Marprom leased the ski lifts at Pohorje, as part of a deal with the municipality to operate and manage the ski slopes.

Rojs said he was confident that Marprom would hold up to its end of the bargain and make the slopes operational. He added that after the one-year lease Terme Maribor would likely be interested in buying the hotels.

The Maribor local authorities decided to step in and save the winter season in Pohorje, which traditionally hosts a Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup event, after several attempts to rescue ŠC Pohorje failed.