The Finance Ministry, which is involved in the sale due to demands by the EU that Elan repay EUR 12m in illegal state aid plus interest, said that there was a possibility the process would not be finalised in the final days of the year.

In an update sent to the European Commission on 18 December regarding efforts to recover the state aid, the ministry said that the talks were taking longer then expected as a result of talks with the bidders on restructuring of Elan's debt.

The ministry had reported to the Commission in September that the sale could be completed by the end of the year, as it responded to a request to explain how it will reclaim the 2008 bailout, classified as illegal state aid in September 2012.

Meanwhile, the ministry confirmed that two binding bids had been submitted for Elan. Both bidders are offering to repay the state aid, but have made restructuring of debt a condition for the purchase.

While the bidders were given until 5 December to reach agreement with the two creditors, the Bank Asset Management Company and Gorenjska banka, neither managed this in time, which is why the process had to be repeated.

As part of an extension of the process during which an agreement must be reached with the creditor banks, one of the bidders was expected to be given preferential status for the period in which it will be expected to complete the transaction.

"Other alternatives are also being closely examined should the bidders fail to provide suitable offers for the company," the ministry added.

The statement from the Finance Ministry comes more than a month after a Slovenian daily reported that Czech ski manufacturer Sporten and Slovenian-owned US company Boba Ing were the frontrunners in the bidding for Elan.

According to Dnevnik, German investment fund Adcuram, which is involved in acquiring troubled companies and their restructuring, also joined bidding for Elan at the last minute.

The daily said in the 12 November report that the favourite was Boba Ing, owned by successful Slovenian businessman Robert Antunovič, who several years ago started manufacturing baby carriers in the US.

Dnevnik cited unofficial information at the time in reporting that bids for Elan substantially exceeded the minimum of EUR 12m, which Elan needs to repay along with interest cost for illegal state aid it received in 2008.